The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Spreading the Quranic Teachings: Merits and Demerits

Abstract

Quran is the word of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ( علیہ الصلوات والتسلیمات ) through Hazrat Jibraeel  (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) and reached us continually through the Prophet Muhammad ( علیہ الصلوات والتسلیمات ), his Companions and his successors (Tabeen, tab-a-tabeen), without any breach. Muslims regards the Holy Qur'an as the primary source of wisdom and knowledge and believe it to be the “alpha and omega” of Islam, because of its profound importance and significance to Muslims. Quranic knowledge is important to everyone. Therefore, Islam insist on learning Islamic education and encourage its believers the lifelong seeking of knowledge, as mentioned in Holy Qur'an; "say, ’O! My Lord, increase me in knowledge'" (Qur'an 20:114). This principle is further emphasized in Hadith by the Holy Prophet ( علیہ الصلوات والتسلیمات ) that states that, "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave" (Al-Tirmidhi). Pertaining to this in the contemporary world, the rapid advancement and development of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised discussions across various disciplines along with religious studies. With the advent of modern technology, people use Artificial Intelligence algorithms i.e., Chat-GPT for interpretations, derivation of fatwas, and practical implications of Holy Qur'an and Hadiths, and consult it to solve the contemporary issues, in the light of Quranic and Islamic exegesis. This study attempts to explore, whether the use of artificial intelligence for learning Quranic interpretation and deriving fatwas from it is justified or not. The researcher used qualitative descriptive method as a tool of analysis.  The researcher took many examples from human translations & AI translations and analyzed them to find the strengths and weaknesses of AI translation. Thus, this article is an attempt to explore merits and demerits of using the Artificial Intelligence Algorithms (i.e., Chat-GPT), in understanding and pursuing the knowledge of Holy Quran.