When an author writes his book and hands it over to the publisher; is he allowed to ask him for the price of this book?

Abu Malik: Very well, our Shaykh, this discussion now leads us to another question, which is that when knowledge was transformed, and our righteous predecessors used to write a book, they did not seek material gain or worldly benefit, or to reach a person of authority or a dinar to gain from his wealth or his authority. Rather, they would write, and then the people would spread his knowledge, taking it from his book just as they took it from his mouth.
Now, also, with the spread of knowledge and the increase in printing and its circulation, something has entered printing, authorship, and publishing that we must also discuss; and that is that some students of knowledge, after writing a book and preparing it for printing, may not have the means to print the book from their own pocket. So they come to the printer or the publisher, or the owner of the bookstore, and they agree with him to print his book. However, he asks him to give him a portion of the price of this book, or the price of this book in advance, before the book is issued from the hands of the printer, the publisher, or the bookstore that undertakes the printing of this book. So, is this financial transaction of this nature considered selling what he owns, or selling what he does not own?

The Shaykh : If we were to use the word "sale" and raise this question, there is no doubt that this book is the property of this author and writer. However, I do not see this use of the term "sale" as appropriate, considering that it involves the knowledge we spoke about earlier, which we emphasized must be pure for the sake of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So if an author writes a book in Islamic jurisprudence and says, "I am selling it for such and such," there is an indication that he was not sincere in his writing of this book for the sake of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
But this issue is exactly similar to another issue in which right and wrong have long been mixed up, or wrong and right, among many students of knowledge; and that is taking a livelihood, let us say, or something similar to this word: in exchange for a Muslim performing a religious duty, such as teaching, for example, in the Shari'ah, or leading the prayer in the mosque, or calling the adhan, or delivering the sermon, or the like. Here, the question is often asked: Is it permissible to take a wage for these acts, which are pure acts of worship: teaching the Shari'ah, leading people in prayer, calling the adhan in the mosque, and so on?
So we answer in such an issue as follows:
It is not permissible for a Muslim to take a wage—and I mean what I am saying—I say: a wage for a religious, Shari'ah-based act; it is not permissible, it is not permissible for the mu'adhdhin to take a wage for his adhan, nor for the imam, nor for the teacher, nor for the preacher. But is it necessary to link what these people take with it being a wage? It is not necessary to link the two matters; meaning, the taker can take some money, and it is not necessary that it be a wage for his work. It may be a gift, it may be, as we said earlier, a reward (ju'alah), it may be a donation, or it may be a salary from the state for every Muslim, as was the case in the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz; every person had a salary allocated to him. So what is given to these employees we named earlier—the imam, the mu'adhdhin, the preacher, and the teacher—it is not necessary to consider it a wage; because a wage is what a person is entitled to by a Shari'ah right in exchange for his work. But if this work is a worldly work, it is his right to demand it from whoever tries to prevent him from it. However, if he performs a Shari'ah act which is worship, he should not seek a wage for this worship; because of the verses and hadiths we mentioned earlier, and in brief: .
And for that reason, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Uthman ibn Abi al-'As al-Thaqafi to the tribe of Thaqif as an imam, he said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): , . The meaning of this is: appoint a mu'adhdhin who calls the adhan for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), not for money. This mu'adhdhin's sincerity is between him and his Lord. So everyone who calls the adhan seeking the reward of the mu'adhdhins on the Day of Resurrection, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated in his saying: ... in his adhan. Then a salary comes to him from his imam, such as a ruler, or from some people of good, and he does not seek that wage with his adhan; then he takes it as pure halal, as it is said.
Accordingly, we analogize all acts of worship, including what we were discussing earlier; and that is authorship.
The scholars of the Salaf differed on an issue, and in my opinion, it should not have been a matter of difference. But the nature of humans, first, and then the matter indicates the importance of sincerity in the subject of worship, second; the Salaf differed on taking a wage for writing the mushaf. Some of them permitted it, and some of them did not permit it. The one who did not permit it, his point of view was that writing the mushaf is worship. But this writing, in my opinion, is a means, not worship in itself, first. And second, it has a resemblance to some of what occurred in the early time, related to the detail I mentioned earlier. And I give an example of what occurred with the early Salaf:
First: The first caliph, the Rightly Guided Caliph Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), when he was appointed caliph, they allocated a salary for him. This allocation of salary for him was not a wage for performing the duty of managing the affairs of the Muslim state. And—may Allah forbid—if he had taken it as a wage, it would have been a sin, and God forbid that he would do that. But he took it as compensation. And as proof of this, (may Allah be pleased with him), and this is part of the completeness of his knowledge and jurisprudence, he did not hesitate to say to them after a few days of becoming accustomed to this salary: "This is not enough for me," so they increased it; because he was in need, otherwise he would be forced to turn away from serving the Muslims with his caliphate to engaging in the means of obtaining his livelihood; so they increased it. This is as a specific example for this Rightly Guided Caliph.
Then it became the practice of all the caliphs when they appointed a judge or appointed a mufti that they allocated a salary for each of these people; this is not a wage, but rather a salary, and let us call it today compensation.
If this detail becomes clear, and that is first, distinguishing between the intention by which this money is taken as a wage, or as a salary, or as compensation, or something similar to that; because the issue of intention, as is not hidden from everyone, the work is one, but by the intention it differs from being forbidden to being lawful. And this is known from many proofs, the most famous of which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . They said: O Messenger of Allah, does one of us fulfill his desire and have a reward for it?! He said: . They said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He said: .
So this is a desire he fulfilled and was rewarded with good reward, and that is a desire he fulfilled and was rewarded with sin and a bad deed; and so on. So here we can quote his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
We return to the subject of books; every writer should, or every writer or every author should monitor himself when he writes a thesis or a book or volumes, what does he seek behind that? If he seeks the display of worldly life, then he is like one of the three who mentioned exactly, no; he seeks.
Yes?
Abu Malik: His wage has been paid.

The Shaykh : Yes, what did the hadith say? You intended to be called a scholar ! And so on. No, he intended to benefit the people, and there is no blame on him regarding whether this message was printed or not, or whether he was compensated or not; these are matters that concern the hearts. But this writing and these efforts that are made; as we said, regarding the writing of mushafs, and this can certainly be extended from writing mushafs to printing them; do we say that it is not permissible for the printer to print the mushaf except for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and that he brought the machines and the employees and the like?! We say here: .
I think this is all I have as an answer to this question, and perhaps we should stop, for the coughing has started to do its work!
Abu Malik: You are rewarded, if Allah wills, for your intention, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills [The Shaykh laughs!].

Another questioner : With good health.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills.
Abu Malik: There is a question remaining, actually a question, and it is an important one... The discussion is about publishing houses, printers, and authors. So, as one of our brothers who came from Riyadh informed me, one of the publishing houses agreed with a writer, an author, to buy the book, and this book was bought.
Of course, excuse us, O our Shaykh, before this question, we did not finish, I mean, frankly, regarding this transaction of buying the book before it started to be distributed, while it was still on paper with him, and he was given, meaning a sale and purchase contract was made; so we say: this contract, which we call a sale and purchase contract in this manner, should not be done?

The Shaykh : No, I said earlier that if we call it a sale, he is selling what he owns, but from the perspective of sincerity to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), first, it should not be included under the name of sale, and second, he should not hasten with this haste.
Abu Malik: Yes, that is it...

The Shaykh: Yes.