A WhatsApp message from a very religious cousin of mine took me by surprise. It read: I asked ChatGPT “how do I put Qur’an verse 16:90 in practice in everyday living?” The reply by ChatGPT read: ‘Striving for justice (Adl), Excellence (Ihsan), Caring for relatives, Avoiding immorality and sin, Opposing oppression and Being constantly reminded.’ The AI proceeds to elaborate on these. Suddenly it dawned upon me that Artificial intelligence (AI) has indeed penetrated our lives, just like computers made inroads some decades back.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a set of technologies that enable computers to perform various advanced functions, including seeing, understanding, and translating spoken and written language, analysing data, and making recommendations. AI performs complex tasks and solves problems using human-like intelligence gained by analysing historical data and extracting patterns. John McCarthy, an American computer scientist is considered the father of Artificial Intelligence. The coming together of AI and Blockchain technology is bringing about a revolutionary change in the working of many industries and activities. Blockchain with its decentralized and secure ledger ensures transparent and efficient transactions.
USES OF AI AND BLOCKCHAIN
A combination of AI and Blockchain technology is being increasingly used in the fitness (health) industry, education, finance, restaurant industry, supply chain industry, and driverless car industry. The Government of India has taken initiatives aiming to use AI to address societal needs in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities, and infrastructure. Even while giving credence to ethical concerns, many Muslim countries are showing huge interest in promoting the integration of AI technologies into their societal infrastructure. The Gulf states have invested largely in building smart cities operated by AI. It is reported that in 2017, the Government of Saudi Arabia announced its decision to grant citizenship to the Sophia robot as the world’s first robotic citizen. Sophia is a female social humanoid robot developed in 2016 by the Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics. Sophia is known for its human-like appearance and behaviour in contrast to the other robot variants. Sophia imitates human gestures and facial expressions and it can answer certain questions. It can even participate in a simple conversation.
ROLE OF AI IN UNDERSTANDING THE QUR’AN
Farzan Madadizadeh and Sajjad Bahariniya, two Iranian scholars have explored this subject in detail in their research paper “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Understanding and Interpreting the Quran” (Journal of Community Health Research 2023; 12(2):310-311). The question raised by them is whether it is possible to help spread the knowledge, wisdom, and law of the Quran with Artificial Intelligence. Their answer is in the affirmative. The use of Artificial Intelligence can increase the understanding, access, and retention of the teachings of the Qur’an and make them more accessible to a global audience. However, they point out that acknowledging the importance of human guidance and ethical considerations, this integration should be approached with caution. By responsibly using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we can open up new dimensions of knowledge and insight into the Qur’an while respecting its sanctity.
WHERE TO ADOPT?
Delving deeper into the details, the authors list the different fields where AI can be advantageously adopted:
1) Artificial Intelligence can help researchers in the analysis and interpretation of the text of the Qur’an.
2) Machine translation based on Artificial Intelligence can help improve access to the Qur’an by automatically translating it into different languages. However, given the limitations of AI translations, human supervision is essential to preserve the richness and accuracy of the original text.
3) AI-based chatbots and voice assistants can provide interactive platforms for people seeking information and guidance related to the Qur’an. By using accurate and reliable sources, potential misinterpretation or misinformation should be avoided.
4) Artificial Intelligence technologies, such as optical character recognition (OCR), can help preserve and digitize ancient Quranic manuscripts. By automatically transcribing and digitizing these valuable texts, Artificial Intelligence can help preserve them and enable extensive scientific research.
THE AI REVOLUTION
Farzan Madadizadeh and Sajjad Bahariniya have examined this subject without being bogged down by a conventional and rigid approach. The following words of the authors place this subject in the right perspective: “Artificial Intelligence is actually a technology that has the ability to think. Of course, this ability to think is very different from what we know as human thinking, but in fact it tries to imitate it. Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized various aspects of human life. In recent years, researchers and technologists have begun to explore the interesting intersection between Artificial Intelligence and the Qur’an”.
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