Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
In the past, when people would travel for haj, umrah or any other deeni or worldly purpose, they would travel on horseback or camelback, and the journey would be arduous and take many months to complete. Nowadays, we have various means of modern transport, in the form of cars and planes, through which one is able to complete a lengthy journey in a short period of time.
Similarly, in the past, when people required water, they would need to take their buckets and draw water from wells and rivers which were situated far from their homes. They would have to undergo a great amount of difficulty in fulfilling these basic tasks. However, in today’s times, we have municipal lines linked to dams and reservoirs through which one merely opens the tap and instantly acquires water without any difficulty.
Due to people in these times not being as strong as people of the past, Allah Ta‘ala has made these means available to us today and brought about abundant ease so that we will not have to undergo great difficulty and hardship in fulfilling our deeni and worldly tasks.
People Have Become Accustomed to Comfort and Ease
The unfortunate condition of man is that he has become accustomed to ease and comfort and no longer wishes to strive for deen, as the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) and the people of the past strove for deen.
Though it is permissible for man to benefit from the permissible things of ease that Allah Ta‘ala has made available to him, however he should understand and remember that the purpose for Allah Ta‘ala creating the world and these things of ease for his benefit was not for him to enjoy the world and go on amassing wealth and luxury. Rather, it was for him to use the world to acquire the pleasure of Allah Ta‘ala.
The pleasure of Allah Ta‘ala is the actual goal of man’s creation and the only path to acquire eternal success. The pleasure of Allah Ta‘ala will only be obtained when man fulfils the commands of Allah Ta‘ala in every department of his life according to the teachings of the Ambiyaa (‘alaihimus salaam). For this, Allah Ta‘ala, sent the Ambiyaa (‘alaihimus salaam) to the world and revealed heavenly books upon them in order for them to teach people deen and connect them to Allah Ta‘ala.
With the coming of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), all religions and past heavenly books have been terminated, and the only religion accepted by Allah Ta‘ala is the deen of Islam which will remain until the end of time.
In the blessed Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “I take an oath by that Being in whose hand lies the life of Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam)! There is no person from this ummah who hears of me, whether a Jew or a Christian, and thereafter he dies without bringing imaan in that Deen which I have been sent with, except that he will be from the people of the fire of Jahannum.” (Saheeh Muslim #153)
The Method Divinely Endorsed for Acquiring the Knowledge of Deen – Following the Rightly-Guided Ulama
The deen of Islam is based upon the Qur’aan and the Sunnah which was passed down to us by the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum). Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) had taught the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) deen, and the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), in turn, had taught the Taabi’een, who taught the Tab’e Taabi’een, and this series of learning deen from the rightly-guided Ulama of every era continued to be practised throughout the centuries until today.
It is this method of acquiring deen from rightly-guided Ulama which has been divinely endorsed by Allah Ta‘ala and His Rasul (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). To acquire the pure, pristine knowledge of deen, one cannot refer to misguided and deviated people or adopt impermissible means, as this will only lead to the destruction of deen.
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) Fearing the Time when People Will No Longer Refer to Rightly-Guided Ulama
In the Qur’aan Majeed, Allah Ta‘ala commands us to refer to the rightly-guided, pious Ulama to acquire our deen. Allah Ta‘ala says,
یٰۤاَیُّہَا الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اَطِیۡعُوا اللّٰہَ وَ اَطِیۡعُوا الرَّسُوۡلَ وَ اُولِی الۡاَمۡرِ مِنۡکُمۡ
“O you who believe! Obey Allah, the Rasul and the ulil amr (the people of authority amongst you). (Surah Nisaa’ v.59)
The Mufassireen (the likes of Abu Bakr Jassaas, Allamah Aaloosi and Imaam Raazi [rahimahumullah]) explain that “ulil amr” in this verse refers to the rightly-guided Ulama and the Fuqaha of the Ummah.
In the Mubaarak Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) forewarned the ummah of a time before Qiyaamah where people will no longer refer to the rightly-guided Ulama to acquire the knowledge of deen. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said:
“There are three things that I greatly fear in my ummah. Firstly, due to the abundance of material wealth and possessions, jealousy for one another will spread among them. Secondly, they will begin to freely discuss the Holy Qur’aan (without having the proper knowledge and without referring to the rightly-guided Ulama) … Thirdly, the religious scholars will no longer be referred to and people will not show any regard to them.” (Targheeb wat Tarheeb #176)
The Result of Not Referring to Rightly-Guided Ulama
The world is progressing at a rapid pace in technology and worldly advancements, and the outcome of this is that people no longer wish to make effort in deen and strive for the cause of deen. People do not wish to humble themselves and take the time and effort to refer to the rightly-guided Ulama to seek guidance for their worldly and deeni problems.
Most people, in today’s times, want quick answers to difficult problems they face in life, and thus refer to Google, Youtube videos, so-called Islamic TV channels, etc., whereas many a time, apart from the sins associated with these mediums, the wrong information regarding deen is acquired. As a result, the person does not practice upon deen correctly, as he is given a distorted version of Islam, and through this, he falls into greater problems.
Destruction of Deen Through AI
Lamentably, in today’s times, people have surpassed the point of referring to Google when seeking deeni information and guidance, and have now ‘progressed’ one step further by referring to AI (Artificial Intelligence) for deeni solutions and deeni masaa’il.
The frightening reality is that it has been proven in many cases that AI is producing totally wrong information regarding the Qur’aan and Sunnah, making up its own masaa’il and giving a concocted and fabricated version of deen to the people. Consequently, the layman who lacks sufficient deeni knowledge and understanding is easily misled through this modern invention, and in the process, his deen is ruined and destroyed.
It should be borne in mind that the various AI’s which people refer to are all products of the kuffaar. The kuffaar have designed and programmed these AI’s, and thus these AI’s will conform to kuffaar values, and will be censored by the kuffaar. The kuffaar’s aim and goal for producing AI is to fulfil their agenda, and one of their primary agendas is to mislead Muslims and create confusion in their deen through breaking the link between the masses and the rightly-guided Ulama. Thus, Muslims are being encouraged to refer to AI for their deeni guidance instead of referring to the Ulama.
Where Does AI Source its Information?
When AI is asked a question that requires information to provide an answer, it refers to the information it was fed which was sourced from various websites, social media and books that have been uploaded to the internet. Among these websites will be websites of Jews, Christians, Shiahs, Qaadiyaanis and atheists all giving their version and opinion of Islam. All these groups are kuffaar who have no connection with Islam and thus they present the incorrect beliefs and actions when explaining Islam.
In short, after AI refers to all these various online sources and evaluates the information, it produces its own answer and presents it to the person posing the question.
The Hallucinations of AI in Information Relating to Worldly and Deeni Matters
AI model referred to by most people (LLM – Large Language Model) is designed in such a way that if it cannot find information to provide an answer, then it “makes up” information and quotes it as though it is fact. AI commits this deceit and fraud with such expertise that it will even quote a legitimate and genuine “source” for its information, whereas the information cited will not be found in that source. This is known as “hallucinating”.
In this regard there have been multiple cases reported, locally and internationally, where lawyers used AI to prepare their arguments for a certain legal case. AI then cited previous cases and judgements as precedents in support of their case. However, upon investigation, it was discovered that all these cited cases were completely fictitious and were made up by AI.
AI is not only guilty of fabrication in worldly matters, but in matters of deen as well. One Aalim decided to test AI’s ability to source and quote from classic Islamic literature. His conclusion was that it had an error rate as high as 50%. He further said, “Sometimes AI gives you certain references and when you look into the original text, they’re not there.”
In conclusion, referring to AI to source one’s deen is against the teachings of the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and it is the recipe to destroy one’s deen, rather than guide one to practising upon deen correctly.
