Is breaking copyright laws allowed in Islam?

Sources

• ✓ 2:188 · Al-Baqara

  2:188 · Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall

  وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَٰطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا۟ بِهَآ إِلَى ٱلْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ فَرِيقًۭا مِّنْ أَمْوَٰلِ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْإِثْمِ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

  And eat not up your property among yourselves in vanity, nor seek by it to gain the hearing of the judges that ye may knowingly devour a portion of the property of others wrongfully.

• ✓ Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 2:188

  Sunni

  Tafsir Ibn Kathir · 2:188

  Ali ibn Abi Talhah and Ibn Abbas explained that this verse addresses the case when a man has wealth that is rightfully his, yet he denies the claim and disputes it before the judges, even though he knows the truth is against him and that he is knowingly consuming what is forbidden. This interpretation was also reported from Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ikrimah, al-Hasan, Qatadah, al-Suddi, Muqatil ibn Hayyan, and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam. They said: Do not dispute while you know you are in the wrong. In the two Sahih collections, it is reported on the authority of Umm Salamah that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed I am but a human, and the disputants come to me, so it may be that some of you present a stronger argument than others, and I judge accordingly. Whoever I rule in favor of when the case is truly against that person, the judgment is but a piece of fire which he may carry or leave.” This verse and the hadith indicate that a judge’s ruling does not change the intrinsic reality of the matter: what is forbidden remains forbidden, and what is lawful remains lawful. The judge’s decision is binding outwardly, but if it conflicts with the truth, the ruling’s validity is limited to appearance. The judge himself is rewarded, and the one who wrongfully plots deception bears the sin. This is why Allah says: “Do not consume each other’s wealth unjustly or use it to bribe judges in order to consume a portion of other people’s property sinfully, while you know.” The phrase “while you know” means you are aware that your claim is false and you are deceitful in your speech. Qatadah said: Know, O son of Adam, that a judge’s ruling neither makes something lawful that is forbidden, nor makes a false claim valid. The judge rules according to what seems apparent and what witnesses testify to, but he is human and can err. Know also that if someone wins a false judgment against another, their conflict will not be settled until Allah gathers them both on the Day of Resurrection, when He will judge between them with a just ruling superior to what was ruled between them in this world. Abu Hanifah said: A judge’s ruling of divorce upon a wife, even if two false witnesses testify before him, remains valid for the spouses involved, although the witnesses themselves are just people and their testimony is accepted by the judge. This ruling forbids the woman from her husband who issued the judgment, and this situation is called ‘lian’—a form of mutual cursing that makes the marital bond forbidden between them. Even if the witnesses are lying about the matter, if the judge knew about their falsehood he would punish them according to Islamic law rather than forbid the marriage. This is the more correct opinion. As for the ruling that someone who consumes unlawful wealth is a sinner, Al-Qurtubi reports consensus among the Sunni scholars that whoever takes unlawful property, even if it does not fall under the technical category of wealth, is a wrongdoer. Bishr ibn al-Mu'tamir narrated that some among the Mu'tazilites held that one does not become sinful for taking less than 200 dirhams, and no sin is incurred for anything below that amount. Al-Jibai said that sin is incurred starting from the taking of a single dirham or beyond, but no sin for something less.