REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MALANG -- Vice President Ma'ruf Amin says the sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) technology will not replace the role of scholars in issuing fatwas.
“AI is just a tool. That tool merely delivers, communicates, or disseminates, or informs. So we can't make a fatwa,” Ma'ruf said after attending the Brawijaya Halal Summit 2024 at Brawijaya University, Malang, East Java, on Friday (19/1/2024).
He said the fatwa should be issued by the mufti or the person authorized to produce the fatwa. Therefore, in issuing a fatwa, it is necessary to have the basics that serve as a guideline.
On that basis, Ma'ruf argued that fatwas should not be published by just anyone, let alone using AI technology. “So it is unlikely that the tool became a mufti. The mufti has conditions,” he said.
Ma'ruf made the statement when asked for a response from scholars in Iran who are now beginning to use AI technology to help issue fatwas. According to the Financial Times, the experiment was conducted in the holy city of Qom, one of Iran's cities better known as a center of Islamic learning and pilgrimage powered by cutting-edge technology.
The potential use of AI technology in Iran is also exploring matters related to deciphering lengthy Islamic texts in search of clues to issuing religious fatwas. Fatwa is a term in Islamic law regarding an opinion or interpretation on a particular issue that occurs to the Ummah.
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