FOUNDATIONS OF MORAL RIGHTS IN ISLAMIC SOURCES AND HISTORY OF AUTHORSHIP IN ISLAMIC CIVILISATION

Moral rights play an important role in modern copyright systems. They are part of the bundle of copyright authors’ exclusive rights. Moral rights entitle copyright holders to claim paternity of the creative work, preserve its integrity and in some jurisdictions- to withdraw the work from the market. Copyright literature in the Arab world introduces moral rights as concepts which emerged and developed in Europe. This literature does not systematically and comprehensively refer to the existence of historical traditions on moral rights in Islamic sources and history of authorship. Yet,* Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology concepts related to moral rights emerged in Islamic societies hundreds of years before their formation and development in Europe. Therefore, in countries with dominant Muslim populations, the protection and enforcement of moral rights should be thought of as relevant to the cultural and local context and not as a product of Western civilisation. This paper introduces evidence which shows that concepts of moral rights such as attribution and integrity are part of Islamic religious culture and traditions of authorship. This evidence is based on the main sources of the Sharī’ah and the traditions that emerged from the recording of these sources. In addition, this evidence is inferred from the development of authorship in Islamic civilisation.