Ijtihad Artificial Intelligence: Prospects and Ethics of Using Artificial Intelligence in Creating Contemporary Islamic Fatwas
Keywords:
AI Ijtihad;, Digital Fatwa;, Maqasid Al-SyariahAbstract
Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, particularly Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM), have opened up new opportunities in the production of contemporary Islamic fatwas. However, the integration of this technology also raises epistemological and ethical issues, particularly regarding scientific validity and religious authority. This study aims to examine two things: (1) the position of AI in the concept of ijtihad from an Islamic epistemological perspective, and (2) the ethical and social impacts of AI use on the authority of religious scholars and fatwa institutions. Using a qualitative approach based on literature review, this study analyses classical primary sources (usūl al-fiqh, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah) and contemporary literature on AI and technological ethics in Islam. The results of the study show, first, that AI does not meet the epistemic requirements as an agent of ijtihad due to the absence of moral and spiritual awareness; its function is more appropriately as an assistant to ijtihad under human supervision. Second, the issuance of digital fatwas without ulama verification has the potential to cause fragmentation of authority and a crisis of public trust. Therefore, a hybrid fatwa model with human-in-the-loop, maqāṣid-based ethical audits, and regulations that ensure authority remains with human mujtahids is needed.
References
Abdul Halim. (2024). Implementasi Kecerdasan Buatan dalam Ijtihad Kontemporer: Peluang dan Tantangan Hukum Islam di Era 5.0. SCHOLASTICA: Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan, 6(2), 75-83. https://jurnal.stitnualhikmah.ac.id/index.php/scholastica/article/view/2758.
Abdelhalim Mohamed Mansour Ali & Muhammad Ahmad Ibrahim Aljahsh. (2025). The Proliferation of Anomalous Digital Fatwas: A Critical Examination of Jurisprudential Challenges and Societal Impacts in the Digital Age. Ahkam, 25(1), 37-52. https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v25i1.37905.
Abdullah Hemmet Abdullah. (2025). Renewal and Ijtihad Practices: An Analytical Study in Light of the Objectives of Islamic Sharia. Journal of Scientific Development for Studies and Research (JSD), 6(21), 370-396. https://doi.org/10.61212/jsd/336.
Ahmad Suaedy, Fariz Alnizar, Juri Ardiantoro & Said Aqil Siroj. (2023). Language, Authority, and Digital Media: The Impact on the Legitimacy of Fatwas. Ahkam, 23(1), 1-24. https://doi.org.10.15408/ajis.v23i1.28875.
Aqila Azka Halmar Muhammad Yasir, Garnis Nindya Pradipta, Irma Suryani Pohan, Muhammad Jibril, Risyda Johannisa Utami. (2025). Etika Islam terhadap Kecerdasan Buatan: Telaah Prinsip Moral dan Pendekatan Maqashid Syariah. Madani: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin, 3(6), 511-518. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16042018.
Arief Rachman, Theguh Saumantri & Taufiq Hidayatulloh. (2025). Transformation of religious authority in the digital era: A post-normal times analysis by Ziauddin Sardar on the phenomenon of social media da’wah. Jurnal Ilmu Dakwah, 45(1), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.21580/jid.v45.1.25644.
Ariyanti Mustapha, Zuraidah Senika Kamaruddin & Sueraya Che Haron. (2025). An Overview of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Issues from the Perspective of Islamic Jurisprudence. Online Journal of Research in Islamic Studies, 12(1), 95–114. https://doi.org/10.22452/ris.vol12no1.6.
Aulia Karimatul Ma'rifat. (2025). Fenomena Influencer Muslim dan Otoritas Penafsiran Al-Qur’an di Era Digital: Kajian atas Pergeseran Otoritas Keagamaan di Media Sosial. Jurnal Pusaka: Media Kajian dan Pemikiran Islam, 15(1), 52-61. https://doi.org/10.35897/ps.v15i1.1965.
Ben Hutchinson. (2024). Modeling the Sacred: Considerations when Using Religious Texts in Natural Language Processing. ArXiv, 24(04), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.14740.
Eko Saputro & Fadhli (2020). Media Baru, Fragmentasi Dan Kontestasi Otoritas Keagamaan di Aceh: Dari Ulama Lokal Ke Ustaz. Jurnal Lektur Keagamaan, 18(2), 429-462. https://doi.org/10.31291/jlka.v18i2.806.
Fahim Khasani. (2022). Fatwa Phenomenon in the Digital Age: From Concept Analysis to Problem Solving. Al-Adalah: Jurnal Syariah dan Hukum Islam, 7(1), 70-87. https://doi.org/10.31538/adlh.v7i1.1755.
Fatima Zohra Benali, Wildan Miftahussurur, Rijal Ali Santos & Zaenol Hasan. (2025). Indonesian Journal of Islamic Law, 8(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.35719/c3g8zb70.
Fatima Ali, Karim Bouzoubaa, Frank Gelli, Boumediene Hamzi & Suhair Khan. (2025). Islamic Ethics and AI: An Evaluation of Existing Approaches to AI using Trusteeship Ethics. Philos Technol, 38, 120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00922-4.
Fauzan Mas’ar. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Ethics: A Framework for Ethical AI Development Based on Maqasid Al-Shariah. International Conference in Artificial Intelligence, Navigation, Engineering and Aviation Technology (ICANEAT), 1(1), 521-523.
Hasan Latifi. (2024). Challenges of Using Artificial Intelligence in the Process of Shi’i Ijtihad. Religions, 15(5), 541. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050541.
Imam Hidayat & Muhammad Hamid Samiaji. (2025). Shifting the Way the Public Forms Religious Understanding in the Era of Digital Disruption. Jurnal Nusantara Raya, 4(1), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.24090/jnr.v4i1.14254.
Iqra. (2025). Artificial Intelligence and Ijtihad (A Research Study in the Light of Islamic Teachings). Scholar Insight Journal, 3(1), 38-50. https://scholarinsightjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/36.
Khader I Alkhouri. (2025). Spiritual Confusion in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: a Psychology of Religion Perspective. International Review of Psychiatry, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2025.2488761.
Lukman Hakim & Muhamad Risqil Azizi. (2023). Otoritas Fatwa Keagamaan dalam Konteks Era Kecerdasan Buatan (Artificial Intelligence/AI). Ar-Risalah Media Keislaman Pendidikan dan Hukum Islam, 21(2), 164-174. https://doi.org/10.69552/ar-risalah.v21i2.2101.
M. Agung Setiawan. (2024). Ijtihad Digital: Pemanfaatan Artificial Intelegence Dalam Istinbath Hukum. Icmil Proceedings, 1(1), 217-229. https://icmilproceedings.org/index.php/icmil/article/view/6.
Marryam Yahya Mohammed, Sama Ayman Ali, Salma Khaled Ali, Ayad Abdul Majeed & Ensaf Hussein Mohamed. (2025). Aftina: Enhancing Stability and Preventing Hallucination in AI-Based Islamic Fatwa Generation Using LLMs and RAG. Neural Comput & Applic. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-025-11229-y.
Mawloud Mohadi & Yasser Tarshany. (2023). Maqasid Al-Shari’ah and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Contemporary Challenges. Journal of Contemporary Maqasid Studies, 2(2), 79–102. https://doi.org/10.52100/jcms.v2i2.107.
Mirismoil Usmonov. (2025). From Human Scholars to AI Fatwas: Media, Ethics, and the Limits of AI in Islamic Religious Communication. Al-i’lam - Journal of Contemporary Islamic Communication and Media, 5(1), 61-80. https://doi.org/10.33102/jcicom.vol5no1.125.
Mohammd Ali G Al Zuraib. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Islamic Law: A Comparative Jurisprudential and Ethical Study. International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 11(2s), 133-135. https://doi.org/10.64252/tpvscj37.
Mohamed Hamadikinane Maiga. (2025). Achieving Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah through Artificial Intelligence: Mechanisms of Facilitation, Control, and Quality Assurance. Mazahibuna: Jurnal Perbandingan Mazhab, 54–70. https://doi.org/10.24252/mazahibuna.vi.55038.
Muhammad Ahsan Hayat, Shayan Ahmed & Syed Arsalan Haider. (2024). The Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence in Islamic Jurisprudence: A Comparative Analysis with Western Legal Systems. Al-Nasr, 3(3), 85-106. https://doi.org/10.53762/alnasr.03.03.e07.
Muhammad Edo Rahman, Fadilla Syahriani & Wilibaldus Jampa. (2024). Islamic Law in the Digital Era: Artificial Intelligence as A Revolutionary Legal Tool in the 21st Century. Al-Hurriyah: Jurnal Hukum Islam, 9(2), 102-115. https://doi.org/10.30983/al-hurriyah.v9i2.8545.
Muhammad Haziq Nor Jamal & Mohamad Zaharuddin Zakaria. (2023). Shariah Guideline on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Fatwa Issuance. Salam Digest: Syariah and Law Undergraduate Symposium, 1(1), 61–70. https://salam.usim.edu.my/index.php/salamdigest/article/view/144.
Muhammad Huzaifa Bashir, Aqil M. Azmi, Haq Nawaz, Wajdi Zaghouani, Mona Diab, Ala Al-Fuqaha & Junaid Qadir. (2023). Arabic Natural Language Processing for Qur’anic Research: A Systematic Review. Artif Intell Rev, 56, 6801-6854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-022-10313-2.
Muhammad Irfan Wahid. (2020). Rumah Fiqih Indonesia: Challenging The Fatwa Shopping. Misykat Al-Anwar: Jurnal Kajian Islam dan Masyarakat, 3(1), 35-50. https://doi.org/10.24853/ma.3.1.35-50.
Muhammad Iskandar Hamzah, Mohammad Mahyuddin Khalid, Azri Bhari & Ali Miftakhu Rosyad. (2023). Fiqh Robotic for Artificial Intelligent in Humanoids Used for Therapy, Services and Other Social Activities: An Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) And Maqasid Shariah. Journal of Fatwa Management and Research, 28(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.33102/jfatwa.vol28no2.527.
Muhammad Kamal Ihkam Mukmin Hakim & Mustafa Mat Jubri Shamsuddin. (2024). Maqasid Al-Shariah in the Age of AI: A Critical Examination of ChatGPT Usage Among International Islamic University Malaysia Students. Online Journal of Research in Islamic Studies, 11(2), 01–18. https://doi.org/10.22452/ris.vol11no2.1.
Muji & Salsabila Khairunnisa. (2024). Kecerdasan Buatan Dan Fatwa Ijma: Perspektif Islam Terhadap Inovasi Modern. Afkaruna: International Journal of Islamic Studies (AIJIS), 2(1), 48-55. https://doi.org/10.38073/aijis.v2i1.1902.
Mukhlis Lubis, Tajul Arifin, Ahmad Hasan Ridwan, Zulbaidah. (2024). Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Maqāṣid al-Syarī‘ah: Revolutionizing Indonesia’s Sharia Online Trading System. Computer Fraud and Security, 11, 301-309. https://doi.org/10.52710/cfs.238.
Ridwan Malik, Abdul Malik & Mega Mustika. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Law: Ethical Implications and Fiqh Fatwas in the Digital Age. Journal of Family Law and Islamic Court, 3(2), 128-143. https://doi.org/10.26618/jflic.v3i2.16546.
Shabaz Patel, Hassan Kane & Rayhan Patel. (2023). Building Domain-Specific LLMs Faithful to the Islamic Worldview: Mirage or Technical Possibility?. arXiv, 23(12), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2312.06652.
Shaheen Whyte. (2022). Are Fatwas Dispensable? Examining the Contemporary Relevance and Authority of Fatwas in Australia. Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 11(2-3), 314-342. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwac015
Siti Fadilla & Putri Isma Indriyani (2025). When Algorithms Shape Trust: The Capitalist Transformation of Digital Islamic Da’wah in Indonesia. Surau Journal of Islamic Studies, 1(2), 86–103. https://doi.org/10.63919/surau.v1i2.34.
Siti Fatahiyah Mahamood, Amily Fikry, Muhammad Iskandar Hamzah, Mohammad Mahyuddin Khalid, Azri Bhari & Ali Miftakhu Rosyad. (2023). Fiqh Robotic For Artificial Intelligent In Humanoids Used For Therapy, Services And Other Social Activities: An Integration Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) And Maqasid Shariah. Journal of Fatwa Management and Research, 28(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.33102/jfatwa.vol28no2.527.
Siti Farahiyah Ab Rahim, Muhammad Firdaus Ab Rahman, Hussein Azeemi Abdullah Thaidi, Nik Nir Muhammad Alif Nik Mohd Azimi & Munawar Rizki Jailani. (2025). Artificial Intelligence for Fatwa Issuance: Guidelines and Ethical Considerations. Journal of Fatwa Management and Research, 30(1), 76–100. https://doi.org/10.33102/jfatwa.vol30no1.654.
Suud Sarim Karimullah. (2023). The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Islamic Law Discovery. Mutawasith Jurnal Hukum Islam, 6(2), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.47971/mjhi.v6i2.748.
Tuan Muhammad Faris Hamzi Tuan Ibrahim. (2025). Potensi Artificial Intelligence (AI) dalam Proses Penghakiman Perbicaraan Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah: Analisis Awal dari Lensa Fiqh. International Journal of Law, Government and Communication (IJLGC), 10(39), 309-319. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJLGC.1039021.
Zahra Khalila, Arbi Haza Nasution, Winda Monika, Aytug Onan, Yohei Murakami, Yasir Bin Ismail Radi, Noor Mohammad Osmani. (2025). Investigating Retrieval-Augmented Generation in Quranic Studies: A Study of 13 Open-Source Large Language Models. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA), 16(2), 1361-1371. https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2025.01602134.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 JJIC - Darul Qur'an Afandi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright and Licensing
Copyright:
In order to be accepted and published by JJIC: Journalum Juris Islamicum Contemporaneum author(s) submitting the article manuscript should complete all the review stages. By submitting the manuscript the author(s) agreed to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
License:
JJIC: Journalum Juris Islamicum Contemporaneum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
