Plagiarism matters in religion

Acknowledging authors for their work is a responsibility upon those who seek to use works other than theirs. Authors here don’t mean book publishers, researchers, or academicians only, but people who share their thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere. Even if they aren’t known as writers, but had put up a thoughtful piece, they need to be credited once their work is shared.

Because plagiarism is somewhat only punishable in academics, some people whose wish is to spread God’s work don’t consider its gravity. They perceive that religious authors shouldn’t be bothered if they aren’t credited for an opinion, write-ups, or when excerpts of their books are used by others, all in the name of they doing God’s work.

When Ekow (not a friend that much) released his book, I bought two copies and gifted one to a friend. The motive was to support his business (writing, publication, and marketing a book are uphill tasks). I read and shared excerpts of it to tease people. Those who perused developed interest in it and wanted to buy it. While paraphrasing excerpts of his book, I still added the source of knowledge — maintaining that the idea didn’t originate from me — it was that of Ekow’s.

That same month I shared a riveting quote in an image form by Ali ibn Abu Talib (ra). It reads: “Man comes from a drop of semen and leaves as a piece of dust. He doesn’t know when he came and he doesn’t know when he’s leaving, yet he goes around thinking he knows everything.”

Ekow saved the image and shared it on his status. But he ‘failed’ to credit the author. I went aghast seeing that he had deliberately cropped the part of the image which had the name of the author. I didn’t want to assume evil so I messaged him for clarification. He was trying to be canny, with some lame excuse for not crediting the author.

Following our encounter, I made another post on my ‘status’ where I detailed what had transpired. Then I condemned the practice of not crediting people for their work. The import was well-received. But for Ekow I couldn’t have forgiven him; he’s a writer and ought to have known better. I abhor religious intolerance.

In the same vein, Akafio (a colleague) shares powerful Christ-like morning devotions on our page. I had to confront him, not because I doubted his intelligence, but because I sensed that the works are coming from someone else. He rightly confessed that the work wasn’t his but that of Martha Evans Sparks’, albeit sometimes the tracts were his. So, I asked why he hasn’t been crediting the author. He also put up doublespeak. Since he wasn’t ready to consider that he had goofed, I let sleeping dogs lied.

The matter of plagiarism is a growing trend among some Muslims. Two reasons are responsible: Muslims are to do their deeds solely for Allah’s sake but not for men. Going contrary to this statute is a loss. And the hadith by Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (ra) which warns all seekers of Islamic knowledge, not to acquire their knowledge to discredit scholars, or show-offs, so that people would be talking about their intelligence since such people are doomed.

Therefore, copying and using other people’s works without according them credit is seen as normal. Even those who own the copyrights feel if their names are known as authors of their own posts their good intention behind putting up such an educative message could be corrupted. There’s no blame here, perhaps it’s their personal decision.

That notwithstanding, people (authors) who put up religious messages and would want to be credited haven’t erred. Their intention is still good (that’s if they don’t think otherwise). Writing is daunting; it takes time, energy, and lots of thinking before a complete sentence is made.

What do writers get, if not they being credited? By such, they aren’t claiming that they know more than God. Crediting them is a way of acknowledging their effort and hard work. It’s in similitude to saying thank-you, as reported by Abu Harayra (ra): “Whoever does not thank people has not thanked Allah.”

The Quran, for this reason, is credited to Allah. Is Allah by that showing off!? Had it not been that, any crocodile could wake up and claimed he is the author of the Quran. Imagine someone quotes from the Quran and credits it in his name.

Crediting people for their work instills accountability. It curtails the spreading of false information. Authors could easily be held accountable to provide further details whenever their write-ups appear murky, or riveting. People become responsible for what they churn out.

Plagiarism breeds inaccuracies, whereas crediting authors leads to reliability. Don’t we all shout “it’s not authentic!?” How would we have done it if we hadn’t known the source of the message? That’s why any goat can’t make a post that there would be light out while the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is there. When such misleading information surfaces, its authenticity could easily be checked.

The message is important as well as the author. As faith adherents, we’d need to give right where it’s due. Thus, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) warned that whoever (intentionally) ascribes to him what he has not said, “then (surely) let him occupy his seat in Hell-fire.”

What do we even lose by not crediting people for their hard work!? When a post is made on your timeline, it automatically becomes yours, meanwhile, you’re not the content originator. How come we want to feel okay while we are in possession of what isn’t rightfully ours?

Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion all preach against thievery and kidnapping. So when we copy people’s work, no matter its content, let us learn to credit them. That won’t cause us to lose our sights or memory!

Failure to do so rather means that we are conscious kidnappers. Proudly poor thieves!

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