Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on ruling of some customary rights
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Wednesday, the 21st of Jumadi al-Awwal. In this meeting, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed some customary rights such as publishing rights, reproduction rights or copyright, and author’s rights and the like, and said: This issue is a point of disagreement among jurists, and the late Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad al-Shirazi would give an obligatory caution or sometimes a fatwa that these customary rights are Sharia-backed rights, but many jurists have also questioned this verdict and did not accept it on the basis that a right is a ruling, and it must come from the Sharia, as stated in verse 40 of Surah al-Yusuf: There is no ruling for anyone but God.
His Eminence continued: In cases such as the right of the wife over the husband, the right of the husband over the wife, the right of the children over their parents, the right of the parents over their children, the right of the blood kins, and the like, there is evidence from hadith, and these cases are rulings. However, there is a difference of opinion regarding customary rights, such as publishing rights, reproduction rights or copyright, and author’s rights and the like. For example, if someone buys a book, and then reprints that book, while there is a notice that copyright is reserved, some contemporary jurists have explicitly commented that such copyright is not Shariah-backed and binding, but some jurists have considered it as a Shariah-backed and binding right in the form of a fatwa or caution.
The Marja also said in relation to the right of turn: It is not mandatory to observe this right, as it is a form of compromise and social etiquette, so it is morally good to observe such a right. For example, if there are five people standing in line in a bakery, it is said that the baker does not have the right to give bread to the second person before the first person in line. However, there is no Sharia-based reason for such prohibition, but from a moral point of view, such a right is respected by the custom, because the person who came earlier and waited more time than the other. So, morally speaking, he has priority and it is better to give him bread first, not that it is wajib. So, if a person does not observe this, he has not committed a haram.
