   بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

   In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

                         "Waqf" General Public License

   This is the informal English translation of Waqf General Public License.
   Anything but the Arabic version of the license has no value except for
   convenience of our English speaking users. When we talk about the License
   we refer to the Arabic version, which is the only one we officially
   offer, we will try our best to make other translation as accurate as
   possible but because of the nature of human languages we use one single
   reference language.

                                    Preamble

   Publishing any intellectual work (including but not limited to books and
   Computer Software) is not done by selling even if it appeared to be so,
   but it's about getting an implied license that has no enforcement without
   the concept of intellectual property granted by man-made laws which was
   acquired as they claim to promote the publication of science and the
   useful arts. The concept of the so called “intellectual property” is
   centered around giving ownership to the first one who register the work
   (called owner or copyright holder and we will refer to him/her/it as
   holder) then the holder practice his rights on the work in it's intangible
   form on any media it's carried, and thus using the intellectual work
   without explicit prior permission is according to them ethically
   equivalent to hijacking ships or “piracy” as they call it. This permission
   is called License and it's aimed to give the holder (usually the
   publisher) an advantage in the market against other publishers through
   monopoly on providing that work by imposing restrictions on the users not
   the publishers. Such works are called “Proprietary”.

   We see that such agreements (proprietary licenses) are evil, but we also
   acknowledge that making an agreement with a prior intention to violate it
   is another immoral evil ^1). We don't solve problems with problems, we
   offer an alternative.

   We have a different vision, we offer our work (like computer software) to
   please Allah, and this is the pillar of this license which distinguish it
   from proprietary licenses. Any other intention (like spreading knowledge
   or getting profits) should be accomplished in ways that does not go
   against our primary moral aim.

   According to our believes (which we don't enforce on any one, and you may
   or may not share it with us) that Islam certainly forbids monopoly and
   concealing knowledge in general, and this comes from:

     * The sound Hadith (saying of prophet Muhammad PBUH): “Who conceal any
       type of knowledge will be bridle with a bridle of fire on the Day of
       Resurrection.” ^2)
     * Islamic Jurisprudence has specified what can be owned, and the rules
       does not apply to ideas as it's not a bounded tangible object and
       almost all the terms of proprietary agreements fall in ruling of
       forbidden Gharar^3) (a kind of fraud that use uncertainty to
       fool the customers) as we see in Imam Muslim Sahih description of that
       term {and below that term we classify so many actions like selling
       negligible objects or unknowns or what can't be delivered or things
       that are not full owned by the seller} and such view is also shared by
       the four major scholars.
     * The laws of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) have been perfected in the
       good centuries and no new rulings are allowed to be brought except for
       newly discovered things and this does not apply ideas as they did
       exist in the past centuries and Muslims massively spread them without
       owning them. FYI: Almost all the Islamic literature is freely
       available on the internet.
     * Concealing useful knowledge from those who need it impose damage to
       people for temporal gains to few individuals. This can not be
       justified by Shari'a (Islamic Law), it's only justified by
       individualist capitalism ^4)
     * Even bringing interests to software publishers is not a valid excuse
       because there are some companies produce and publish software without
       owning them (proprietary software) and yet they gain profits.
     * the so call “Intellectual Proprietary” is all about giving owners the
       right to forbid what Allah had made lawful to gain money, not by
       providing service nor goods.
     * The uncertainty and untangable nature of the claimed owned product is
       the source of “protection money collecting” where some company
       threaten some smaller company by copyright infringement lawsuit on
       some purposely ambiguous product which the later can't afford so they
       go safe and pay.

   If the good intentions made excuses to introduce “intellectual
   proprietary” by the Machiavellists who wrote the American constitution
   as an acquired right (at least they admit it's not a natural right), they
   serve their own way of life which is not international. We don't take
   that. We have our own high moral standards. We introduce Waqf General
   Public License to place it among the anti-copyright licenses. This license
   is designed to grant rights to users not to restrict them, it's uses the
   concept of copyleft/copy-wrong as opposed to the concept of copyright.

   Computer software, Medicine formula or even poems are considered to be
   intellectual works and thus can be covered by “Waqf”. An intellectual work
   is any useful idea that can be delivered or utilized by people. “Waqf” is
   not meant for ideas in general, but for intellectual work which is
   beneficial to people if published. As we support protecting privacy for
   example one shouldn't publish names of his customers, bid prices,
   government military or political secrets because those are not
   intellectual works.

   We should clarify two things:

     * First: The favor and ethical rights of the holder are preserved and
       acknowledged
     * Second: original author and any other party (if they have the
       intention and the ability) have the right to get fees on enhancing the
       work or developing it or to provide paid services or paid courses
       …etc. but not the work in its intangible form. There is not
       contradiction between getting fees on services because what is covered
       by “Waqf” is the source form of the work not the media nor the service
       (the same way one can take fees on shipping fruits for a charitable
       Waqf fruit field or make juice)

                                  Definitions

   The following terms would have the corresponding meanings in this license

     * The intellectual work (or The work for short): is any useful
       intangible intellectual product that can be passed on to others or
       replicated withno cost imposed on the original author or the one who
       pass it on before.
     * The holder: is the creative author or the party which carried the
       process of developing the work and make it available (and the one who
       holds the copyrights on the product before the governmental offices).
     * the licensee or the user: any one or party who uses the work (runs,
       copies, modifies or otherwise takes benefits provided by the work).
     * The license: this agreement (the Arabic version of “Waqf”) between the
       two parties (the holder and the user) covering the usage of the second
       party on the work provided by the first party. The usage of the
       product is with accordance to the terms of this license. And because
       of the intangible nature of the work, this agreement applies by using
       the product (in any way) without signing the agreement. One do not
       accept the terms looses the rights given by this license and his/her
       usage of the work is considered illegal and will be sued.

                                   The Terms

   Waqf General Public license (or “Waqf” for short) covers intellectual
   works (including but not limited to Software and paper publications,
   scientific theses, art works) and have many common features with FLOSS
   licenses. Waf is distinguished with its moral intentions behind the work
   and usage limits.

   As the name suggests, with “Waqf” ^5) the holder announce his/her work
   was produced and made available to the public for the sake of Allah aimed
   to please Allah by providing people with useful works. It's a form of
   “Sadaqa Jariah” ^6).

   “Waqf” gives users (regardless of their nationality, color, race,
   religion) the right to benefit from the work with running, copying,
   redistribution, or even develop and only with according to the following

     * First - Usage :

   The user may use the work for any good purpose and he may not use it to
   harm others or violate the permissive principles of Islam ^7). Notice
   that any work that is most likely harmful can't be put under Waqf in the
   first place.

     * Second - Redistribution :

   The user have the right to redistribute the unmodified work in any
   quantity to any third party under the terms of this license, acknowledging
   the favor and ethical rights of the holder to the third party.

     * Third - Modifications :

   The user has the right to get the source form of the work and make
   modifications enhancing or adopting to the user's needs to the limits
   given by this license.

     * Fourth - Redistribute modifications:

   The user can redistribute modifications only under this license provided
   that he points to previous original work (the unmodified work) and its
   author and the nature of modification clearly to the third party to whom
   the modified work is presented in a way that no one may reasonably get
   confused between it and the original unmodified work of the previous
   author.

     * Fourth - Disclaimer of responsibility :

   The holder does not take any legal nor moral direct or indirect
   responsibility nor liability on the good or bad usage or damages caused by
   the work to the farthest level allowed by the law. THIS SOFTWARE IS
   PROVIDED AS IS AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
   LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
   PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED BY THE HOLDER.

   The entire responsibility is on the user and the only warranty given to
   him is the source of the work.

                                   Conclusion

   Applying Waqf public license help to spread the awareness of dangers
   caused by intellectual property. And provide people with a legal
   alternative even though we don't believe on the validity of such man made
   laws.

   ^1) http://www.islam-qa.com/ar/ref/454
   ^2) This is an authentic sound/Sahih as it's narrated by Imam
   Ahmad, Abu Dawood, AlTirmithi and Ibn Majah. Refer to “Hoisting the
   Lighthouse : A synopsis of the Various narrations of the Hadith: Whoever
   conceals knowledge, Allah will bridle him with a bridle of fire” or in
   Arabic “رفع المنار بطرق حديث من كتم علماً ألجمه الله بلجام من نار”.
   ^3) Some information about Ghrar is available at
   http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gharar.asp
   ^4) Although Islamic economy is a kind of liberal capitalism economy
   but it's regulated with so many moral rulings that guarantee social
   justice
   ^5) The name Waqf means to prevent the source or assets from being
   consumed while giving away for charity the proceeds.
   ^6) Sadaqa Jariah means sustainable charity which is a kind of charity
   that continue to be beneficial to people even after the death of the one
   who give it like giving the fruits of a field but not the field, more over
   prophet Muhammad PBUH specifically named useful knowledge as a form of
   that kind of charity.
   ^7) Some scholars use the term Maqasid Alsharia and summarize them by
   saying that it aims to protect people rights in religion, lives, sanity,
   breed, and properties.


