Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterThe terms of online contracts must be honored
Question
Assalamu 'Alaykom. I'd like to ask: How if i paid a membership site for me to access videos exclusively for law student or any other field. It says in every video that "Any attempt to illegally download and/or distribute the videos is prohibited. However you can watch the video as many times as you can" but for a limited period only. What if I will download the videos FOR PERSONAL USE only and CONVENIENCE using some techniques and not for DISTRIBUTION and SELLING , is it haraam? Is violating such agreement makes me guilty? I have no intention of selling or distributing it. Only to keep it in my storage for Educational Purpose. I really need an answer since a friend of mine who have knowledge in Islam said that I am bound by the contract not to download the video. However, Shaykh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali said that it is not considered stealing as long as you use it for Personal use only and not to resell it. Hoping to hear from you soon inshaa Allah. Jazakumullaho Khair..
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
In principle, any contract terms must be honored and the rights of the product's owner must be respected. As long as he absolutely prohibited downloading his video, it is impermissible to download it.
However, some scholars have differentiated between someone who does that for personal use, and someone who does it for commercial purposes in order to gain profits. Those scholars said it is permissible for the former and forbidden for the latter.
At any rate, it is better to avoid doing that entirely in order to act upon safer opinion of the scholars, unless the owner allows it. The view that it is forbidden is the one adopted by Islamweb.
Allaah Knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
