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QUESTION:: I am a man who has - All Praise be to Allaah - many beneficial books and reference works, yet I do not read them, instead, I choose just a few of them. Am I guilty of sin in keeping these books in my house, bearing in mind that some people borrow some of these books and benefit from them, after which, they return them to me?

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ANSWER:: There is no sin upon the Muslim in collecting beneficial books and keeping them with him in his library in order to refer to them, benefit from them, and to lend them to those who visit him among the educated people so that they might benefit from them. Nor is there any sin upon him if he does not refer to them much. As for lending them to reliable people, who benefit from them, this is a lawful action and a means of getting closer to Allaah, the Glorified, since it supports the acquisition of knowledge and because this is included in the Words of Allaah, the Most High: "Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety)" [Al-Ma'idah(5): 2] And the words of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam: "Allaah helps the worshipper so long as the worshipper helps his brother." (Muslim no. 2699)