Money earned from pirated software programs

15-2-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Al salaam ‘alaykom wa rahmato Allâh wa barakaatoh. Bismillah, Until recently I have been using illegally downloaded program to edit videos. But one day, I realized the hadîth which says that Allâh is Pure and He only accepts what is pure. So i deleted the programs. From this, two questions arose for me: 1) Before I realized the hadîth I helped a brother to make videos for a project he is engaged in, using the program. He gave me (as a salary and gift for it) some money and a very beautiful Qur’an. What should I do with these? Should I give them back? 2) Are those videos we did regarded as “pure”? Because he was unaware that I was using a program that I did not own. The blame must be upon me; hence, it is enough that I make repentance [hoping that Allâh will accept the brother’s videos] or do I need to tell him to delete them? Jazaakom Allâho khayran..

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

You did well by discontinuing use of the pirated software program and deleting it. There is no harm, however, in benefiting from the videos and the money earned through using it. You are not obliged to return the money to the brother whom you helped and he is not obliged to delete those videos.

However, you are still liable for any damages or loss incurred by the software owner from your use of the software without his permission. Compensation of losses is to be paid to the software owner who possesses the patent rights, if possible; otherwise, it is to be given in charity. The extent of the damage and loss are to be determined by experts in this field, if any; otherwise, you may estimate it yourself and pay what you believe would most likely be sufficient to clear yourself of liability.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 264511.

Allaah Knows best.