Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Constructing an Islamic Ethical Framework for AI Governance and Regulation
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Abstract
Background: The twenty-first century has witnessed unprecedented acceleration in generative and agentic artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, delivering remarkable efficiencies across healthcare, finance, education, and governance. However, this progress has escalated global ethical risks — algorithmic bias, deepfakes, mass surveillance, disinformation, and surveillance capitalism — while Western-centric frameworks (EU AI Act, UNESCO Recommendation, NIST RMF) remain predominantly secular and utilitarian. A critical lacuna persists: the absence of a comprehensive, systematic Islamic ethical framework rooted in Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah for AI governance and regulation, leaving Muslim societies (1.8 billion Muslims worldwide) at risk of adopting ethically alien standards.
Purpose: This study aims to construct a holistic, coherent, and applicable Islamic ethical framework for AI governance and regulation grounded explicitly in Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah.
Methods: The research employs qualitative doctrinal-normative (yuridis-normatif) methodology with a maqāṣidī analytical approach. Primary sources (Qurʾān, Hadīth, classical Maqāṣid texts of al-Ghazālī, al-Shāṭibī, and Ibn ʿĀshūr) and secondary sources (2022–2026 AI ethics literature and international regulations) were analysed through thematic content analysis and holistic maqāṣidī mapping.
Results: The study systematically adapts the five ḍarūriyyāt (ḥifẓ al-dīn, ḥifẓ al-nafs, ḥifẓ al-ʿaql, ḥifẓ al-nasl, ḥifẓ al-māl), augmented by human dignity (karāmah and ḥifẓ al-ʿirḍ). It constructs a novel multi-layered iʿtimānī (trusteeship) framework integrating three divine covenants with operational virtues (sidq, qisṭ, shafāfiyyah) and a structural overlay onto the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. Comparative analysis shows strong thematic compatibility with Western regimes while offering superior theocentric depth.
Implication: The framework provides concrete policy recommendations — mandatory Shariah-audited ethics commissions, dual-metric evaluation protocols, tabayyun infrastructure with watermarking, and transformative digital literacy curricula — readily operationalisable in Muslim-majority jurisdictions (Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and OIC countries). It positions the Muslim world as an active contributor to ethical pluralism in global AI governance.
Originality: This is the first study to operationalise all five ḥifẓ into a comprehensive, actionable governance and regulatory model for AI, shifting Maqāṣid from conceptual or sectoral application to a proactive philosophy of technology that bridges Islamic theology with technical risk management.
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