{"id":33101,"date":"2023-12-26T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T05:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=33101"},"modified":"2025-10-03T03:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:31:32","slug":"an-islamic-perspective-on-ai-artworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/an-islamic-perspective-on-ai-artworks\/","title":{"rendered":"An Islamic Perspective on AI Artworks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-accent-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/play.beyondwords.io\/48930\/content\/85da32f3-02a1-40b4-9620-d01b5e1fd7dc\">Listen to this article<\/a><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) in his <em>Muqaddimah<\/em>, the various crafts and branches of knowledge are the result of the human mind\u2019s intellectual abilities, which is always in the habit of transforming simple or luxury crafts from potentialities into actualities. He adds that the easiest way to habituate science is through clear language expressions when discussing or disputing scientific problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The science which develops within the human mind\u2013through sense perception, memory retention, pattern recognition, image manipulation, and conception, is what we call experience through which the mind innovates work towards perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The elimination of old jobs and the introduction of new ones\u2014what was briefly called disruptive technology or innovation\u2014are due to the fact that technology is a scientific art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like crafts, science and technology are likewise the result of the intellectual abilities. The quality and refinement in science and technology are indications that civilisation is flourishing, which is in turn predicated by the fulfilment of basic human necessities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Islamic arts are proofs of a thriving civilisation; from the Andalusian architecture, the Moroccan pavilions, and the Bahri Mamluk <em>muqarnas<\/em> portal ornamented vaulting decorations, to the geometric, floral, and inscriptional mosaic tile designs adorning the old Timurid <em>madrasah<\/em> buildings in Registan Square and Shah-i-Zinda mausoleums in Samarkand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not only those were made by artisans in the past who worked to recreate only a Qur\u2019anic vision of Paradise rather than a \u2018Heaven on Earth,\u2019 they were also made with the sufficient and ultimate reminder in the artisans\u2019 hearts and minds that it is God Who is the Best of Creators (<em>Surah al-Mu\u2019minun<\/em> [12]: 14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trajectory of the civilisation can either cause the crafts to refine or adulterate. As the present civilisation declines, it inflicts a toll upon the crafts and arts of the modern world where even the fulfilment of necessities is an uphill battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the book <em>Reflections of an English Muslim <\/em>(2015), author and connoisseur of Islamic arts and culture Ahmed Paul Keeler draws a similitude between a canary and an artist. The canary would be the first to die when brought to certain deep ends of a mine where deadly gases were present thereby quickly alerting the miners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The artist would have experienced a metaphorical death every time he ventured to reflect the modern world\u2019s cruelty, depravity, chaos, roboticness, shallowness, and emptiness in his works, which Keeler calls as \u201cwarnings to society.\u201d Both the canary and the artist are hypersensitive, thus warners of hidden dangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In today\u2019s context, a new breed of artists called \u2018prompters\u2019, armed with the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as DALL.E 2, Jasper Art, and Midjourney just to name a few, easily bypasses years of education as experienced by their classic predecessors to create a multitude of photographically realistic works of art within a short span of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, without the language skills and the sciences to discipline the mind as Ibn Khaldun described, the prompters merely propagate new forms of the metaphorical death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, the promptings would be the continued regurgitation, albeit AI-assisted, of cruelty, depravity, chaos, roboticness, shallowness, and emptiness into the present century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are important questions that need to be asked with regard to the current trajectory of AI development and the end goal of AI-assisted designs and products, such as: Is it intended so that one feels immense pride of one\u2019s ability to \u2018create\u2019 as God creates? Will such creations be so realistic that they deceive many, an act which also happens to be the other meaning of \u2018artifice\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Prophet Muhammad had said, \u201cThe painter of pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them, \u201cmake alive what you have created\u201d\u201d (<em>Sahih al-Bukhari<\/em>, Hadith No. 7557).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-\u2018Asqalani (d. 1449 A.D.) states in his commentary <em>Fath al-Bari <\/em>that the abovementioned hadith refers to God\u2019s challenge to and humiliation upon painters, designers, and makers who were immensely proud of their life-like creations that they try to equate their own creativity with that of the Creator\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the intentions do not count among the answers, then why is it so designed? If there is no beneficial purpose (e.g. learning, business), then creating through such increasingly encouraging AI is futile work and serves only to add more to the confusion blurring the line between truth and falsehood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) in his Muqaddimah, the various crafts and branches of knowledge are the result of the human mind\u2019s intellectual abilities, which is always in the habit of transforming simple&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225,249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-audio-articles","category-225","category-249","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33101"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81270,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33101\/revisions\/81270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}