Is it permissible to earn a living through books?

The questioner : There is a sub-question, but it was included in the answer since it was presented or part of it, yet I wanted to hear it directly. It is about earning a living through books, or rather, the ruling on taking profit from books that a person prints and authors, having written them seeking the Face of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is the issue we are asking about; anything else is a different matter. So, if he authored a book or treatise seeking thereby the Face of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.

The Shaykh : The issue is actually of extreme precision, because it is known to all scholars, and indeed students of knowledge, that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, does not accept of righteous deeds except what is pure for His Face. It is known what has come in the Book and the Sunnah revolving around this important issue. For example, His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: There is no doubt or ambiguity that seeking knowledge is, as came in some hadiths, confirmed to be among the acts of worship, and among the acts of worship that surpass in virtue many types of pure worship. Where he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: So, knowledge does not benefit its seeker or its disseminator unless he seeks behind it the Face of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Accordingly, it is not permissible for a Muslim to intend in teaching the Islamic knowledge to people material gain. And for that reason, we find in the biographies of some of the memorizers of hadith, let alone some of the narrators of hadith, that they used to criticize them because he used to take a fee for narrating hadith. They would say of some of them, "He does not accept narrating hadith except in exchange for a dirham or two dirhams." They mention this in the biographies of some of the early scholars, even though he was a memorizer, trustworthy, and precise, and the like. But his defect was that he did not narrate except in exchange for a fee.
Al-Halabi : And it seems some of them weakened him because of this.

The Shaykh : Then we find some of the later memorizers defending him, saying that perhaps he was poor and in need, and so on. What is certain and without doubt is that it is not permissible for a Muslim to intend by seeking knowledge and disseminating knowledge anything of the perishable things of this world. But here, and here is the precision: the books of hadith that are now being disseminated by way of photocopying with these strange machines are copies. There is no doubt that those who used to copy these books, most of them used to copy them for a fee agreed upon between the owner of the book and the copyist. And for that reason, we find some of the manuscripts or copies from multiple types and styles of handwriting. The reason is that the one who requested the copying found a copyist and agreed with him on a sum, then for one reason or another, that copyist finished copying, and you find the handwriting changed afterwards, and so on. Perhaps you will find in one book, and not a large book, about three or four handwritings. For example, the book that I think, and on this occasion, do you know that the book of An-Nasab by Dhamij was printed, and it was completed finally.

Another questioner : It was completed finally.

The Shaykh : The book of An-Nasab by al-Sam'ani: years ago, one of the Lebanese Sufi publishers, known as Dhamij, started with this book. Its original is a copy made in Europe, and I have a copy of it. You will find many handwritings in it, and it consists of three volumes, parts that are not very large, like this. So, the point now is that copying this book is not knowledge. So, taking a fee for this copying is not like taking a fee for narrating a hadith in exchange for a dirham or the like. As long as a new factor has entered here, which is copying, and attached to it now is printing, and attached to it is the original, which is authorship, it is said like this. But here it is said: As in the widely narrated hadith: "The one who authored a book of Islamic knowledge, whether it is tafsir, hadith, or fiqh, must look at the basic motive that carried him and pushed him to this authorship. If he seeks behind it the Face of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, and the reward in the Hereafter, then that is his intention, and there is no blemish in his intention at that time to take a fee for his copying and authorship. There is no difference for me between this author and that copyist and that printer. Knowing that our righteous Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them, differed regarding taking a fee for the one who copies the mushaf: is it permissible or not? There are two opinions among them: some disliked it, and some permitted it. And among those who permitted it, some said it is among the best of deeds. And I see this last opinion, because it helps in disseminating the Book of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. This is what appears to me regarding your question. May Allah bless you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you and your knowledge.