The growing trend of sharing and acquiring news through social media platforms and the World Wide Web has impacted individuals as well as societies, spreading misinformation and disinformation. This trend—along with rapid developments in the field of machine learning, particularly with the emergence of techniques such as deep learning that can be used to generate data—has grave political, social, ethical, security, and privacy implications for society. This paper discusses the technologies that have led to the rise of problems such as fake news articles, filter bubbles, social media bots, and deep-fake videos, and their implications, while providing insights from the Islamic ethical tradition that can aid in mitigating them. We view these technologies and artifacts through the Islamic lens, concluding that they violate the commandment of spreading truth and countering falsehood. We present a set of guidelines, with reference to Qur‘anic and Prophetic teachings and the practices of the early Muslim scholars, on countering deception, putting forward ideas on developing these technologies while keeping Islamic ethics in perspective.
The twenty-first century technological advances driven by exponential rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology have ushered in a new era that offers many of us hitherto unimagined luxuries and facilities. However, under the guise of this progressive discourse, particularly in the backdrop of current neo-liberal late-capitalist postmodern world, AI development also has prompted an increasingly uncertain ethical tomorrow. This paper aims to probe the question of ethics by exploring the true ramifications of AI and interrogating its various ethical dimensions. It questions the essential goodness that is attributed to unstinted AI development before elucidating the ethical repercussions of AI advancements and the aptness of the current market logics and business models that govern the tech-industry. The paper next positions a holistic Islamic virtue-based AI ethics framework grounded in the context of Islamic objectives (maqāṣid) as an alternative ethical system for AI governance. We argue that this distinctive Islamic virtue-based ethical approach, which can be used to explore AI-related ethical problems more holistically due to its ontological base and rich tradition while keeping in check undue influence from the current socio-politico-economic climate, can be a valuable addition to the global discourse on AI ethics.
This paper discusses the design features deliberately used in social media technologies to cause behavioral addiction, while outlining how this addiction leads to altering, reshaping and redefining of basic human values such as contemplation, well-being, mindfulness and connectedness that bring about social, psychological, cultural and ethical changes in human existence. The paper sheds light on how the altering of the human value system goes against the values and principles of Islamic law by citing Qur’ānic verses, prophetic traditions and teachings of Islamic scholars. Currently, there are no frameworks, laws and/or strategies that view social media addiction from a metaphysical perspective and in terms of human worldview and existence. Hence, as a solution, our paper introduces an ethical framework for designing social media technologies using the objectives of Islamic law that discourage a social media design with indefinite ends and encourage a design methodology with well-defined objectives and consequences.
The self-esteem, self-image, and subsequently self-worth of young consumers all around the globe, are determined by unsustainable consumption habits. This is equally true for Muslim youth who are as vulnerable to the pressure of building their self-image as consumers. This has led to adverse effects on the ecosystem and therefore, goes against the United Nation's sustainable development goals (Goal no. 6,7,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). This paper argues that by changing the criterion to gauge and establish their self-image, self-esteem, and self-worth, we can influence the degree of sustainability of the consumption patterns of young Muslim individuals. This would subsequently undo the undue pressure on the ecosystem and reduce the damage. This paper explores how the prevalent criteria of determining self-esteem and self-worth are rooted in unsustainable consumerism, trapping the planet's ecosystem in an ever-expanding vicious cycle of production, consumption, and waste. The paper recommends the Islamic alternative of determining one's self-worth, which then buttresses one's self-confidence and self-esteem. The Islamic concept of self, unlike its modern counterpart, is not dependent on extrinsic factors, such as products and services acquired and consumed by an individual, but on intrinsic factors lying within each individual. Taqwà (God-consciousness and mindfulness leading to virtuosity), qanā'at (contentment with what you already have), tawakkul (trust in the grace of Allah), tashakkur (gratitude), and zuhd (frugality) are key concepts and behavioral tools to bring the required transformation to the consumption patterns of Muslims, especially youth. The paper proposes ways to promote the cultivation of an Islamically informed self that derives its worth from virtuosity. This alternative Islamic self-image is to be propagated through education (both at the religious institutions and conventional universities) and Islamic entrepreneurship.
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