Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
While artificial intelligence can be used as a tool to access and verify information, it cannot be a substitute for a reliable authority or source of knowledge in Islamic law. The tradition of Isnad, or the chain of narration, is fundamental to the authenticity of Islamic knowledge, ensuring it is passed down from reliable scholars and ultimately traced back to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Therefore, AI-generated rulings should always be cross-referenced with reputable Islamic sources.
Responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Religious knowledge is best acquired from authentic sources. Allah says, {Ask those endowed with knowledge if you don’t know.} (An-Nahl 16:43)
Allah has promised to preserve this religion by ensuring it is passed on from generation to generation by reliable authorities. Our scholars insisted on Isnad, which entails documenting the sources.
It assures that our knowledge is traced back to the source; the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Imam Ibn al-Mubarak said, “Isnad is part of religion; if not for Isnad, everyone would have attributed whatever he or she wanted to religion.”
Ibn Sirin said, “This knowledge is part of religion, so be forewarned from whom you are receiving knowledge.”
Therefore, we must not rely on sources other than reputable Islamic scholars or acceptable sources of Islamic knowledge to form a credible and authentic view of Islam.
If you can verify the integrity of the information provided by artificial intelligence, you can use it. However, it cannot be a substitute for a reliable authority or source of knowledge.
👉 For more on this topic, explore other related issues here:
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- Do Muslims Need to Follow Only One School of Fiqh?
- Can I Choose Varying Juristic Opinions Between Schools of Fiqh?
- Praying Behind an Imam from a Different Juristic School: Permissible?
Almighty Allah knows best.