After switching from pirated software to free software will my work still be haram?

Question

I am still in school and going to college this year InshaAllah. The announcement received May 27th at state universities, may Allah bless my college. I want to take computer science. The problem is all the software including the operating system on my laptop is pirated. I agree that the use of pirated software is forbidden in Islam.

So I plan to download all the free versions of the software including the operating system. But I still use pirated software to download it. After all the software I need installed on the laptop, I would switch to free software and I leave the use of pirated software.

I am unable to buy proprietary software. So I switched to free software, but I used to use pirated software which is there to help get the free software.

• When I already switched to free software is my work from it still haram ?

Now I am using pirated software and its bad. I want to get rid from this because I am sure its haram. I want to migrate to free software, the operating system and all. I can download Linux DVD using this pirated software. Am I free from haram after doing this? Because buying a Linux DVD here is hard. I only can get Linux from my friends but they will use pirated software to download. Is it ok?

Answer 1

There are different opinions on this. But I see that you decided to choose the opinion that says it is haram.

If that's so. Then repenting to allah is the first thing you should do.

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Although there is no direct ayah or hadith that say your work has become HALAL. You need to know that allah is considered the most merciful and the most forgiving. This is proven in numerous ayahs in the Quran:

In the Quran

And when those come to you who believe in Our verses, say, "Peace be upon you. Your Lord has decreed upon Himself mercy: that any of you who does wrong out of ignorance and then repents after that and corrects himself - indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful." http://quran.com/6/54

Other Verses:

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." http://quran.com/39/53

In the hadith:

Qudsi Hadith:

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying, "Allah, the Exalted, has said: 'O son of Adam! I shall go on forgiving you so long as you pray to Me and aspire for My forgiveness whatever may be your sins. O son of Adam! I do not care even if your sins should pile up to the sky and should you beg pardon of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam! If you come to Me with an earthful of sins and meet Me, not associating anything with Me in worship, I will certainly grant you as much pardon as will fill the earth."'

[At-Tirmidhi].

Also:

It was narrated from Anas that the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon a young man who was dying and said: “How do you feel?” He said: “I have hope in Allah, O Messenger of Allah, but I fear my sins.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “These two things (hope and fear) do not coexist in the heart of a person in a situation like this, but Allah will give him that which he hopes for and keep him safe from that which he fears."

Ibn Majjah

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In the end, Allah is the most merciful. He forgives your sins if as soon as you decide to repent. Don't be afraid at all. Since this might easily let the satan whispers reach you which can damage you later on

You might also want to check these 2 questions:

• What is the Islamic stance on Internet Piracy?

• Is using pirated software allowed?