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Fatwa CenterWebsite offering matches exclusively broadcasted by a dish network
Question
Dish network offers cricket match packages that you have to buy. Is it allowed to watch them form a website who uses dish network's program and charges people to watch the matches? For example, you have to pay like 5 dollars for one match, dish charges 100 or more for the whole package.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
First of all, it should be noted that there is no harm in watching cricket matches and other matches if they are free from religious prohibitions, like men watching women or women watching men (in a given game), or being preoccupied with these matches and neglect the religious obligations like the five daily prayers, or neglecting being kind and dutiful to parents, or being fanatical to a given team and hating or being hostile to another team, or uttering obscene words and so forth. So if these conditions are not met, then it is not permissible to watch these matches in principle.
However, if these matches are free from any religious prohibition, one has to look at whether or not those who broadcast these matches give permission for these matches to be broadcasted on the site which you referred to. If they give a special permission for this site to broadcast it, or give permission for all other sites to broadcast it, then it is permissible for this site [in question] to broadcast it and it is permissible for you to watch it according to the compensation agreed between you, otherwise it will not be permissible for this site to broadcast it, as broadcasting rights are considered as intellectual rights. These are rights that are not permissible for someone to breach, or for him to take them as his own rights, as the material and intellectual rights of its owner should be preserved unless the owner of this right renounces it. The ruling applies to the owner of this right be him a Muslim or a non-Muslim who is not fighting the Muslims; as the right of a non-Muslim who is not fighting against the Muslims is preserved like the right of a Muslim. This is the Fatwa of most of the contemporary scholars, may Allaah preserve them, and in such a case, it is not permissible to watch these matches from that site as this is helping in sin. Allaah forbade this as He Says (what means): {And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allaah; indeed, Allaah is severe in penalty.}[Quran 5:2].
Allaah Knows best.
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