The Golem, the Djinni, and ChatGPT: Artificial Intelligence and the Islamicate Occult Sciences (original) (raw)
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Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 2024
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has presented novel questions across various intellectual and theological landscapes. This article seeks to explore two distinctive challenges that AI poses to Islamic thought. First, it examines the potential role of AI in Islamic knowledge production and scholarship, questioning the feasibility of an AI-powered religious authority, the concept of the iMufti and techno-madhhabs, along with capabilities to contribute to the chains of transmission and issue religious edicts (fatāwā). The second challenge delves into the implications of AI on the Qur’ān’s claim of linguistic inimitability (i‘jāz), investigating whether an AI, when taught the complexities of Arabic and literary composition, could potentially meet the Qur’ān’s challenge to produce a text of comparable stature, thus probing the foundational assertions of the Islamic worldview. The article provides preliminary reflections aimed at spurring further scholarly inquiry into the intersection of AI and Islamic thought.
Islamic Classical Theism and the Prospect of Strong Artificial Intelligence
Islamic Classical Theism and the Prospect of Strong Artificial Intelligence, 2023
This article investigates the compatibility of strong artificial intelligence (AI) with classical theism, particularly within the Islamic tradition. By examining the functionalist view of mental states, we argue that a Muslim who accepts classical theism should be open to the possibility of AI that possesses genuine mental states. We present two arguments to support this claim: one that challenges substance dualism and another that assumes dualism. Both arguments demonstrate that mental states can arise in at least two different substances, which implies functionalism. As a result, the development of strong AI would not be surprising from an Islamic perspective, and its creation might even provide corroborative evidence for classical theism. This article thus provides a philosophical foundation for the existence of conscious and intelligent machines and their potential compatibility with Islamic beliefs.
2016
In addition to beginning with Bismillāh ir-raḥmān ir-raḥīm, in the name of God, the Infinitely Merciful and Infinitely Compassionate,2 traditional Muslim discourse should begin by a declaration of taking refuge in God from the deviousness of Satan, by saying aʿūdhū billāhi min alShayṭāni’r-rajīm (I seek refuge in God from Satan, the reviled one). This is not simply a cultural custom in Islam; rather, it has its source in the example (sunnah) of Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, which we read about in the Ṣaḥiḥayn, the two sound ḥadīth collections of Bukhārī and Muslim: “Two men insulted one another in the presence of God’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and one of them became angry to the extent that his face became red and swollen. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم looked at him and said: “I know a sentence (kalima) that were he to say it, that state he is in would leave him; and that sentence is: I seek refuge in God from the accursed Satan.”3 We say this, not just in the context in which t...
Islam in the Midst of AI (Artificial Intelligence) Struggles: Between Opportunities and Threats
SUHUF
Islam is a religion that accepts all forms of technological progress, including advances in artificial intelligence. However, in the development of technology, Muslims are required to adapt to anticipate the negative or positive impacts that exist. The purpose of this study is to find out the opportunities and threats that accompany the emergence of AI (Artificial Intelligence) so that AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be used in harmony with the Islamic religion. The qualitative method was chosen in this study, by collecting secondary data which was then analyzed to answer all questions. The results of the research show that if Artificial Intelligence is developed and implemented properly, it will be very helpful for the needs of Muslims. But there are also threats including; prone to be misused to instill the values of apostasy, radicalization and terrorism. The use of Artificial Intelligence in harmony with the Islamic religion, must pay attention to ethical and moral principles i...
Answering Divine Love: Human Distinctiveness in the Light of Islam and Artificial Superintelligence
Sophia, 2023
In the Qur'an, human distinctiveness was first questioned by angels. These established denizens of the cosmos could not understand why God would create a seemingly pernicious human when immaculate devotees of God such as themselves existed. In other words, the angels asked the age-old question: what makes humans so special and different? Fast forward to our present age and this question is made relevant again in light of the encroaching arrival of an artificial superintelligence (ASI). Up to this point in history, humans have exceeded other creatures in various respects; now a possibility has arisen that another entity, namely ASI, will exceed humans at least on the level of intelligence and power. In relation to the age of angels, pre-modern Sunni exegesis construed human distinctiveness along the axes of reproductive knowledge and stewardship. Both brittle, distinguishing markers will disappear in the age of the ASI. Conversely, a more resilient and creative Islamic response can be derived from Ibn al-ʿArabī's (d. 1240) views on God and the imago Dei. Inspired by the Akbarian perspective, this paper construes human distinctiveness in relation to a capacity to expansively respond to God's love to be recognized, a response that relies on (a) imitating divine virtues that operate in counterintuitive and illogical ways, and (b) exhibiting fragility and lack rather than exceptionalism. ASI, while responding already in part to God's love, needs to make strides towards these traits before it can answer divine love as commensurately as humans can.
Modern scholarship has long been making magic as much as observing it, by carving out and labeling particular domains and activities as rational, authentic, and normative, while marginalizing others as primitive, folkloric, and deviant. Magic-talk is never impartial or disinterested. The categories we use to analyze Islamic history are predicated on a set of unstated values and assumptions that can often obscure our understanding of the past. The ability to name, codify, and classify is precisely what generates scholarly authority through specialized knowledge. Yet, categories and the meanings behind them are also in a constant state of flux. This holds true both for the conceptual frameworks that govern western scholarship, as well as for our objects of historical inquiry. Critique does not end by merely abandoning outdated terms and the ideas that animate them or by simply fashioning new ones. Rather, the task at hand demands recognizing that second-order forms of conceptualization invariably foreclose certain possibilities of thinking in other terms. The challenge posed by our taxonomies extends beyond a matter of accounting for the surplus and deficit inherent in all translation; we must also mind how knowledge is generated and how power is exercised. Attention to the conceptual frameworks we have inherited is powerful, as it offers possibilities for thinking otherwise. This chapter reflects on the range of material covered in the present volume, while further exploring the categories we deploy to understand Islamic history, with examples drawn from the circulation and transformation of various practices and beliefs over time and place.
A Philosophical Approach to Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Values
IIUM Engineering Journal
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to empower humans through enhanced learning and performance. But if this potential is to be realized and accepted, the ethical aspects as well as the technical must be addressed. Many engineers claim that AI will be smarter than human brains, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills, so we must consider it an important factor for making decisions in our social life and especially in our Islamic societies. The most important challenges will be the quality of representing the Islamic values like piety, obedience, Halal and Haram, and etc in the form of semantics. In this paper, I want to emphasize on the role of Divine Islamic values in the application of AI and discuss it according to philosophy of AI and Islamic perspective.Keywords- Value, expert, Community Development, Artificial Intelligence, Superintelligence, Friendly Artificial Intelligence
A preliminary survey of Muslim experts’ views on artificial intelligence
2021
There should be a great deal of concern over the extensive and still expanding application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Muslim life today. From the use of smartphones, drones, robots, autonomous vehicles and weapons technologies, the transformation caused by AI is significantly positive but much is still up for debate and contemplation. In fact, some Muslims may merely consider this rapid growth of AI as part of science fiction which is being popularised in movies. This incognizant view is dangerous because Muslims may not be alert to unforeseen AI impact especially when it crosses over Islamic ethical or legal limits. These interpretations should provide an appropriate context for Muslim experts today to rethink their views with regards to the transformative impact of AI on Muslim society. This preliminary study therefore, is conducted to gather Muslim experts’ professional views on AI related issues. Using a quantitative methodology approach with a cross-sectional...
Attribution of Religious Characteristics to AI
Journal of Religion and Social Communication, 2023
Today we find a number of attributions of religious characteristics to AI. In usages like “apocalyptic AI,” “homo deus,” “AI as Imago Dei,” “virtual immortality,” etc., we find religious characteristics being attributed to AI related processes. It would do well to critically analyse such attributes from the perspective of religious studies to understand their impact upon the dynamics of religions. One such core dynamic, acknowledged invariably in religious and theological studies, is that of the experience of “transcendence.” Several studies on religious transcendence analyse its “vertical” and “horizontal” aspects down through historical epochs. The modern era, in particular, is understood to have induced various shades of immanentism, along with an inability to transcendence. This paper studies some selected religious attributes made to AI and analyse their impact upon the experience of transcendence today