Plagiarism is generally defined as “presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.
All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition.”[i] Plagiarism varies in kind, severity and scope.
Plagiarism is regarded as a form of academic dishonesty and cheating, and a serious breach of scholarly ethics. It may result in a number of punishments, such as penalties, fines, suspension and even expulsion from college, university and work. In some extreme cases, in places where plagiarism is considered a crime, imprisonment is also an option.
This is so on the grounds that plagiarism represents a degree of theft, whereby a person’s intellectual property is misappropriated and the thief is set to benefit therefrom.
Spiritual Plagiarism
Perhaps most dangerous and most devastating is what could be dubbed a spiritual plagiarism.
This type of plagiarism connotes the appropriation and enjoyment of Almighty Allah’s creation, blessings and signs, and the utilization of them for one’s egotistical and acquisitive ends, without acknowledging at any stage of the process(es) their true origin, character and purpose.
The problem becomes severer when the same creation, blessings and signs of Allah are utilized for creating the cultural and civilizational constituents of man, which are then staged as exclusively human achievements, set to serve but the ungodly interests of man.
Islam teaches that everything in the physical and metaphysical realms of existence is the creation of Allah, belonging only to Him. Man: his life, existential purpose and talents, are included. In addition, all the gains and blessings that man enjoys at any stage of his life mission, are Allah’s too. They are portents of Allah’s perpetual love, compassion and care.
Islam also teaches that it is Allah only who creates, in the sense that He only can bring things into existence out of nonexistence and nothingness (ex nihilo).
What man can do, despite his status as the vicegerent on earth and his remarkable abilities, is just to use, reuse, process, employ, assemble, construct, engineer, manipulate, etc., what has already been created and has been entrusted to him. Man is not in a position to create – yet do – anything on his own and without the providence as well as authorisation of His Creator.
In other words, man cannot create life; he can only manipulate it. Even when he does so, man cannot think outside the box. He cannot think in terms other than the already created patterns, examples and materials.
Nor can man originate anything new, which is without prior similitudes. Man is an ordained and needy junkie, a penurious and niggardly consumer, and always second best. He by no means can become a true creator, or originator. Acts of creation are ascribed to Him only metaphorically.
Read the full article here. Rampant-Plagiarism
[i] https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism?wssl=1. Last accessed on 16 December 2019.