Islamic World Faces Urgent Need to Shape AI Ethics, Warns Expert

Islamic World Faces Urgent Need to Shape AI Ethics, Warns Expert
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The Islamic world, home to nearly two billion people and one of the youngest global populations, is confronting a critical challenge as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes societies worldwide, says an opinion piece on The National. Dr. Yasar Jarrar, a professor at Hult International Business School and managing partner at Gov Campus, highlights the urgency for Muslim-majority countries to actively influence AI development rather than passively adopting technologies designed elsewhere.

Currently, over 89% of AI training data originates from English-language sources, with Islamic perspectives on ethics, finance, governance, gender, and education largely absent. This exclusion leads to algorithmic biases, such as facial recognition errors involving hijab-wearing women and challenges for Islamic financial institutions using conventional credit scoring models.

To address these issues, Dr. Jarrar proposes establishing an AI Fatwa Council—a multidisciplinary body of scholars, technologists, and ethicists—to guide AI governance aligned with Islamic values. This council would tackle questions including AI’s role in religious practices, digital fatwa regulation, and certification of AI models for Islamic education and finance.

He points to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, particularly the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, as well-positioned leaders due to their investments in AI education, policy, and infrastructure. The council aims to create a halal AI ecosystem with global relevance, ensuring Muslim communities shape the digital future and avoid inheriting biases embedded by others’ technologies.