ALGORITHMIC IJTIHAD AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY: EVALUATING THE EPISTEMIC AND ETHICAL BOUNDARIES OF GENERATIVE AI IN ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE
Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia 
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Algorithmic Ijtihad, Generative AI, Islamic Jurisprudence
Abstract
Generative artificial intelligence is increasingly used to access and organize Islamic legal knowledge, raising questions about whether computational fluency can be equated with legitimate juristic authority. This study aimed to evaluate the epistemic and ethical boundaries of generative AI in Islamic jurisprudence and to examine its implications for the reconfiguration of religious authority. A qualitative comparative multi-method design combined Islamic legal-doctrinal analysis, standardized scenario-based auditing of four generative AI systems, epistemic and ethical evaluation matrices, and expert interviews. The findings showed that AI performed relatively well in source retrieval, comparative organization, translation, and preliminary mapping of established jurisprudential positions, but reliability declined in cases requiring contextual judgment, reconciliation of conflicting evidence, treatment of ikhtilaf, and individualized normative decisions. Linguistic fluency did not consistently correspond with epistemic quality, while source transparency, uncertainty disclosure, and human oversight were strongly associated with more defensible outputs. Experts rejected autonomous AI ijtihad and unsupervised high-stakes fatwa generation. These results reveal a persistent gap between computational capability and legitimate religious authority. The study concludes that generative AI should function as a bounded epistemic assistant within an asymmetric human–AI jurisprudential model in which qualified jurists retain final responsibility for interpretation, contextualization, ethical accountability, and authoritative religious judgment.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Yassine Belhassen, Amine Ali, Selma Hachicha
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