Every year, my children need supplementary study books but their prices beyond my means. There is a place where I can buy them used from the previous year at a reduced price. Is it permissible if I buy these books?Every year, my children need supplementary study books but their prices beyond my means. There is a place where I can buy them used from the previous year at a reduced price. Is it permissible if I buy these books?

Allah Almighty has legislated selling and made it lawful provided it is based on mutual consent; He says, “Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest” (Quran, 2:275) and “O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent” (Quran, 4:29). From the Sunnah, Abu Burda narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked, “Which earnings are the most wholesome?” He said, “The work of a man’s own hand and every transaction that is acceptable” (recorded by al-Hakim in his Mustadrak).

 

Ownership as a condition in a valid sale

One of the conditions of a valid sale contract is that the item being sold must be owned by the seller. Hakeem Ibn Hazaam narrated that he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “O Messenger of Allah, the man is asking me to sell him what I do not own. Should I sell it?” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Do not sell what you do not own” (recorded by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah). This is the opinion of jurists across the four major schools of jurisprudence. Al-Kasani, the Hanafi scholar, wrote in Bada`i’ Al-Sana`i’, “For a sale to be legally effective, the item must be owned by the seller at the time of the sale; if not, the sale does not come into effect” (5:146).

Al-Muwaq, the Maliki scholar, cites Ibn Arafa in Al-Taj wal Iklil (6:71), stating that one of the conditions of a sale is that the item being sold must be deliverable and owned by the seller or by someone acting on their behalf.”

The Shafi’i scholar, al-Khatib al-Shirbini, stated in Mughni Al-Muhtaj (2:349), “The fourth condition of a sale is that the item being sold be owned by the person who has the right to sell it,” while Abu al-Sa’adat al-Buhuti, the Hanbali scholar, wrote in Kashf Al-Iqna’ (3:180) on the conditions of a sale, “The fourth condition is that the item being sold be owned by the seller at the time of the sale  [the same applies to the price, which must be owned by the buyer].”

 

Buying used supplementary books at a lower price

Books are the property of their author, a right protected by law. Accordingly, all acts that transfer ownership are rights that belong to the author or anyone holding the authority to dispose of them. It is permissible to sell books according to the view of the majority of Shafi’i and Maliki jurists, and according to one report in Hanabi jurisprudence. See Shaykh ‘Elaysh, Minah al-Jalil 4:487; al-Shirazi, Al-Muhadhdhab 2:12; Abu al-Saa’dat al-Buhuti, Kashf al-Qina’ 3:178.

 

The ruling

Accordingly, it is permissible to sell used books provided they have been acquired through valid and lawful means, the conditions and elements of a sale are met, there are no legal restrictions on the sale, and no intellectual property rights are violated. It is important to note that Islamic law prohibits reproducing and selling books without the permission of the author or the party holding the rights to publish and distribute them, as this constitutes an infringement of intellectual property rights and the rights of others. If the buyer knows that the books are unlawful reproductions, buying them is also prohibited, as doing so would amount to cooperating in sin which is prohibited in Islamic law; Allah Almighty says, “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression” (Quran, 5:2).

 

And Allah Almighty knows best