What is the ruling on selling books distributed by government agencies to purchase more beneficial books, which we received for a school and found to contain objections? Is it permissible to destroy them?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, what is the ruling on selling books distributed by certain government agencies, such as those for media or fatwa, in order to purchase more beneficial books?
The Shaykh : Yes, it appears to me that the distribution of books by these entities is considered a gift. If it is a gift, it becomes the property of the person to whom it was given, and he may dispose of it as he wishes, whether by using it, selling it, giving it away, or endowing it. It is his property. If he sees that selling it and buying something better is better, then that is better. Yes.
The questioner : One point, Shaykh, in the same question: these books were taken for a school as a gift from the ministry for the school. We found some objections in them, especially the storybooks, or also books that speak about the Shi'ah. Do we have the right to destroy them?
The Shaykh : In any case, if you took them for the school, they belong to the school, and you may sell them to purchase something more beneficial, provided the regulations grant you that authority. However, if they are harmful and contain deviant ideas, innovations, or misguidance, it is obligatory for you to withhold them and inform the entities that granted them to you of this, so that they do not distribute them to others as well. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Ma'idah 5:2] Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, it appears to me that the distribution of books by these entities is considered a gift. If it is a gift, it becomes the property of the person to whom it was given, and he may dispose of it as he wishes, whether by using it, selling it, giving it away, or endowing it. It is his property. If he sees that selling it and buying something better is better, then that is better. Yes.
The questioner : One point, Shaykh, in the same question: these books were taken for a school as a gift from the ministry for the school. We found some objections in them, especially the storybooks, or also books that speak about the Shi'ah. Do we have the right to destroy them?
The Shaykh : In any case, if you took them for the school, they belong to the school, and you may sell them to purchase something more beneficial, provided the regulations grant you that authority. However, if they are harmful and contain deviant ideas, innovations, or misguidance, it is obligatory for you to withhold them and inform the entities that granted them to you of this, so that they do not distribute them to others as well. Allah the Exalted said: