Traditionally, Muslims look to recognized, qualified scholars in a given field of learning for advice. This principle has long been the basis of Islamic authority. Fatwas derived their legitimacy not from speed, but by the credibility of the scholars. Artificial intelligence now disrupts this model. AI chatbots represent a paradigm shift in religious practice and consumption of information by Muslims in the Middle East.
AI has brought about a new system in which a chatbot gives an answer in milliseconds, without interacting with any scholar or religious body.
Current debates surrounding AI and religion have focused on accuracy, as scholars question whether AI can produce sound interpretations of Islamic law and governments question whether they can deliver credible responses. While these concerns are valid, the most profound changes brought about by AI in the religious realm seem to have been under-examined. AI has created a new sort of religious power, which might be termed infrastructure authority—the power to effect religious conduct through managing religious access, rather than by producing or manipulating interpretations of religious knowledge. For centuries, religious authority resided with scholars; they possessed exclusive control over interpretation. Today, control over religious access allows actors to define how individuals adhere to religion.
Current fatwa issuance is institutional: A believer goes to a scholar or religious body, asks a question, and gets some answer. He knows who is responsible for that answer. AI has brought about a new system in which a chatbot gives an answer in milliseconds, without interacting with any scholar or religious body. In the new chatbot age, the AI interface becomes the gatekeeper.
This is more than a matter of simple access. Traditionally, religious authority has been partially determined by a sense of being accessible. A scholar will be unable to persuade the faithful if believers have no way of encountering his knowledge. However, in the information age, it is the platform and not solely the scholar who can dictate which answers appear first, which ideas are central, and which remain out of sight. The scholar no longer is solely the expert and soon may become the authority only insofar as algorithms amplify his views. A ranked, filtered, recommended view of a religious problem may mold faith as certainly as any exegesis.
The scholarly authority derived in previous eras from interpretation may transition to a kind of authority derived from distribution within the AI-driven era.
This is not merely theology. Middle Eastern states already regulate the clerics, mosques and institutions producing fatwas because they believe that religious authority matters in the context of social and political order. AI does not. The network provides an algorithmic domain that crosses borders infinitely more readily than human clerics ever have been able to cross borders. Transnational corporations now replace the state as the main regulatory bodies.
Recent developments show these dynamics at play. Egyptian religious scholars cautioned against accepting the rulings dictated by AI and both Saudi and Qatari religious services embraced AI while maintaining scholarly guidance. These states are past asking if they will allow AI into religious service; they now debate how to manage it.
The scholarly authority derived in previous eras from interpretation may transition to a kind of authority derived from distribution within the AI-driven era. The most influential figure may cease to be the scholar who produces a fatwa and instead may become the distribution platform delivering the fatwa to the believer. Tech companies and engineers may guide religious conduct without ever explicitly staking a claim to the authority of religion itself.
