Middle Eastern Religious Perspectives on Software Piracy
Introduction
Illegal software (pirated, illegally copied, etc) in the Middle East is a rampant problem. It is estimated that 74% of software in Lebanon is illegal, while 37% of software in Israel is illegal1. The lack of intellectual property laws has been sited for the problem; even with these laws being introduced it might not resolve the issue. Though joining the World Trade Organization (as many Middle Eastern countries have recently done) forces the countries to officially recognize copyright law will this affect the citizen’s view of copyright? Religion is a fundamental part of the Middle East with some countries laws derived from religious text. I believe by analysis of religious texts and law I can hope to gain perspective into the views on software piracy. I will focus on Jewish law and Islamic Fatwas. Once the religious perspective on copyright is derived I will analysis if the religious perspective holds up to general ethical analysis. My goal is not to judge (e.g. say copying of software is wrong therefore those who copy software are bad), but rather gain insight into the religious perspectives towards software piracy.
Jewish Law (Torah)
'Torah' has the following meanings2:
1. A scroll made from kosher animal parchment, with the entire text of the Five
Books of Moses written in it by a sofer [ritual scribe]. This is the most
limited definition.
2. More often, this term means the text of the Five Books of Moses, written in any
format, whether Torah scroll, paper back book, CD-ROM, sky-writing or any other
media. Any printed version of the Torah (with or without commentary) can be
called a Chumash or Pentateuch. However, one never refers to a Torah Scroll as
a Chumash!
3. The term 'Torah' can mean the entire corpus of Jewish law! This includes the
Written and the Oral Law, which includes the Mishna, the Midrash, the Talmud,
In Judaism, the holy book was known as the Torah. It is comprised of the five books in the bible. Human beings had an obligation to honor the holy text and serve God by practicing what was stated in the bible. However, in Christianity, the holy text is based on both the Old and New Testament. This bible consisted of teachings and life of Jesus. Lastly, for the Islam religion, their holy text was the Quran. The bible was inspired by God and gave many people inspiration and guidance in their lives. Thus, many people will apply what was stated in the bible to their lives to live righteously. All three religions required individuals to read their holy texts, pray, and stay faithful to
The Torah also known as The Book of Moses or the Pentateuch, refers to the first five books of the Tanakh or Hebrew bible. The religious texts found in the Tanakh come from The Torah, Neviim and Kituvim. The book of Moses is comprised of Bereshit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bedimar(Numbers) and Devarim (Deuteronomy). The Torah holds traditions, religious laws and teachings that are followed within the religion of Judaism.
It contains sixty-six smaller books, and those books are divided into two different parts, called the Old Testament and the New Testament (“Fast Facts about the Bible”). The Old Testament has thirty-nine books, and even those books are divided into sections. The first five books of the Bible make up the Pentateuch, which contains the laws that the early Israelites had to live by. The next group of books are the Historical books, which tell the stories of many different people that Christians look up to. After those come the books of Poetry, and the Major and Minor Prophets. In the New Testament, there are twenty-seven books, which are also made up of different parts. The first four books in the New Testament are different accounts of the Gospel of Jesus, which tells of His life and ministry on Earth. Those are followed by the Church’s history, and Paul’s letters to the churches from that time period. And, the last book of the Bible is a part of its own theme, the prophecy. It depicts the future events of the world, and what will happen during the end
The Torah, [Torah the Five Books of Moses. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1963. Print.
It arose as scholars began to notice the inconsistencies of the initial belief that the Pentateuch was written by Moses. Documentary hypothesis describes the Pentateuch as having a series of editors. These editors have distinctive literature traditions which underpins one editor from another. The 4 significant strands of literary traditions are known as The Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D) and the Priestly (P). Each of these authors have different perspectives and are seen to be from different periods of time (J – 900BCE, E – 800BCE, D – 600BCE and P – 500BCE), reflecting different literary styles such as literature around law or narratives and written in a way that was socially, culturally relevant to them. Having this knowledge gives you a better understanding of the context, era, and social situations within that particular author’s text. It provides more insight as to why an author has written what they have and depicts their various perspectives in more
The Torah on the other hand is only the first five books in the Tanakh. Another interesting factor is during the compilation of the Torah; Moses received Ten Commandments to add to the Torah that originally contained six hundred and thirteen other commandments. This further raises an interesting question as it is difficult for Christians to follow just Ten Commandments in the modern world, and the Jews on the other hand have to follow six hundred and twenty three commandments! One can’t help but wonder how this is
In the discussion that follows, I will often talk of what “the Qur’an intends,” or what “the Torah means to say” on a topic. It should be understood that I am not ascribing human attributes to inanimate books, but rather that I am intentionally avoiding the conflict inherent in naming the author of these books. Depending on one’s tastes, one could understand the Qur’an’s intention to be either Muhammad or Allah’s intention. Likewise, “the Torah means to say” could really be understood as what either Moses or G-d means to say. Either way, the important point is that somebody thought through the stories and decided on which words were worthy of being included in the holy texts and which were not. One of the underlying assumptions of this paper is that the stories were written down the way we find them today for a reason, and this paper intends to shed light on some of those reasons.
...ulation” (Smith). Approximately 60 million copies, or portions thereof, are distributed annually. The Tanakh is a acronym that identifies the Hebrew bible. The acronym is based on the initial Hebrew letters of each of the text's three parts. The Law, The prophets and the writings.
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
The Written Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Oral Torah (teachings in the Talmud) were given to Moses
This shepherd boy had been clambering around the clefts and gullies of a rock face on Wadi Qumran, north of the Dead Sea hoping to find one of his lost lambs. Thinking that it could have taken refuge in a cave he threw stones at the opening. He heard a jar break, became fearful and ran to fetch his fellow tribesmen. What they discovered were written scrolls of ancient papyrus, stuffed in jars and wrapped in linen. The Bedouins thought that they could make money on the black market in Bethlehem so sold them for a few shekels. A bundle of four of these scrolls was purchased by “the Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem, Yeshue Samuel who then stored them in St. Marks Monastery”. (Albright, 1954, 403)
Hailed as the archaeological find of modern times they were made out of papyrus or animal skins called gevil and written right to left with no punctuation. In fact there were no spaces between words they simply ran together. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek using ink made from carbon black and white pigments and using birds feathers as writing implements.
The Hebrew Bible is studied, analyzed, and worshiped by millions each day, it gives insight into the teachings and laws of God. The article “Pentateuch”, obtained from The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible by Merrill C. Tenney, deeply examines the authorship of the Pentateuch and displays two compelling arguments of weather the Pentateuch is of Mosaic authorship, or written by authors other than Moses. The Pentateuch is the bases of the entire Bible, it contains the first five books, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, thus the literal meaning of “five volumes”. Theses five books make up the Old Testament and are roadmap to God’s teachings. The two views of Pentateuch authorship are Mosaic authorship
The term 'Scripture' refers to the sacred writing of the Old and New Testament. Sacred Scripture are the books which 'contain the truth of God?s revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit' (CCC 105). Sacred Scripture is one of the several names denoting the inspired writings which make up the Old and New Testament. The words of the Sacred Scriptures, 'for their part proclaim the works and bring light to the mystery they contain'.