Is it permissible for publishing houses to impose a ban on the printing of their product?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Ah, this question has come to me from more than one source. Some Islamic recordings are printed on tapes, and they write on them "not for exclusive use," meaning "printing prohibited." We do not know where they got that from. If they take a hadith from Your Eminence, or record, for example, one of the sheikhs reading in some of the mosques in Ramadan, they write on it "printing prohibited." And of course, this makes it expensive, and some people shrink back from buying it, and some of the other recording companies cannot print it. Consequently, its distribution decreases, and the benefit from it decreases. So what is Your Eminence's opinion on that?
Answer:
Rather, I noticed this in a word we gave last Wednesday night at al-Rajhi Mosque, that this is a mistake, and this is restricting knowledge, and a barrier to the spread of knowledge. So this should not be done by anyone. Rather, the one whom Allah has blessed with this should make room for others so that people may benefit, especially if it comes to him on a tape. Praise be to Allah, what is upon him in this? Okay.
It is incumbent upon everyone who has recorded something from the words of the people of knowledge or from the Qur'an to make room so that people may benefit and so that knowledge spreads in every place. This is, in fact, what is required. This is stinginess with no justification. And one should not be deceived by what some of the people of knowledge mentioned regarding the printing of books. For a book may be printed, and if someone else prints it, it may become unsold for him and harm him due to the expenses he spends on the book. This is a matter for consideration. But the facilitations are broader than this and easier than this.
It is not permissible to restrict that and write on them "do not print." It is not permissible for the one who has obtained them not to print them, and to spread them, and to record them, and to generalize their benefit.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you. Yes, yes, it is not for anyone. They say that you are raised in the Islamic world. In the books, in the books, but in the books, when he fulfills his need, his need is fulfilled, it is printed, yes. Say.
Ah, this question has come to me from more than one source. Some Islamic recordings are printed on tapes, and they write on them "not for exclusive use," meaning "printing prohibited." We do not know where they got that from. If they take a hadith from Your Eminence, or record, for example, one of the sheikhs reading in some of the mosques in Ramadan, they write on it "printing prohibited." And of course, this makes it expensive, and some people shrink back from buying it, and some of the other recording companies cannot print it. Consequently, its distribution decreases, and the benefit from it decreases. So what is Your Eminence's opinion on that?
Answer:
Rather, I noticed this in a word we gave last Wednesday night at al-Rajhi Mosque, that this is a mistake, and this is restricting knowledge, and a barrier to the spread of knowledge. So this should not be done by anyone. Rather, the one whom Allah has blessed with this should make room for others so that people may benefit, especially if it comes to him on a tape. Praise be to Allah, what is upon him in this? Okay.
It is incumbent upon everyone who has recorded something from the words of the people of knowledge or from the Qur'an to make room so that people may benefit and so that knowledge spreads in every place. This is, in fact, what is required. This is stinginess with no justification. And one should not be deceived by what some of the people of knowledge mentioned regarding the printing of books. For a book may be printed, and if someone else prints it, it may become unsold for him and harm him due to the expenses he spends on the book. This is a matter for consideration. But the facilitations are broader than this and easier than this.
It is not permissible to restrict that and write on them "do not print." It is not permissible for the one who has obtained them not to print them, and to spread them, and to record them, and to generalize their benefit.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you. Yes, yes, it is not for anyone. They say that you are raised in the Islamic world. In the books, in the books, but in the books, when he fulfills his need, his need is fulfilled, it is printed, yes. Say.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ ابن باز Alsheikh Binbaz»، 362 هل يجوز لدور النشر اشتراط حظر طباعة منتجهم؟ للإمام ابن باز — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.