Artificial Intelligence and Moral Responsibility: An Islamic Normative Approach

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming social, economic, and religious spheres, raising ethical concerns that extend beyond technical performance to questions of justice, accountability, human dignity, and moral responsibility. This paper examines contemporary AI ethics through an Islamic moral framework, arguing that AI should be ethically evaluated rather than merely regulated or celebrated. Using a normative ethical analysis grounded in Islamic moral philosophy, the study first identifies key ethical challenges associated with AI, including algorithmic bias, privacy and surveillance, automation-driven economic disruption, autonomous decision-making, and accountability deficits. It then articulates core Islamic ethical principles, such as tawḥīd, khilāfah, amānah, ʿadl, maṣlaḥah, maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, and karāmah insāniyyah, as normative criteria for ethical judgement. These principles are subsequently applied to assess the moral permissibility, limitations, and conditions governing contemporary AI practices. The analysis demonstrates that Islamic ethics permits beneficial AI applications while imposing firm constraints where technologies undermine justice, human agency, dignity, or public welfare. The study concludes that Islamic moral philosophy offers a rigorous and culturally grounded framework for ethically responsible AI