Artificial Intelligence, Islam, and the Road to Militancy: How Generative Technologies Could Exacerbate Extremism

By New Age Islam Correspondent 17 July 2025 In recent years, generative AI tools like ChatGPT and open-source Chatbots have begun influencing how Muslims worldwide seek religious guidance, often replacing traditional scholarly learning. While these tools offer instant access to Islamic teachings, they pose serious risks when misused — including the spread of radical interpretations, the erosion of democratic values, and the rise of AI-fuelled extremism. Examples from India, North Africa, Syria, and Indonesia show how AI-generated sermons, fatwas, and militant content can be weaponized to justify violence and manipulate vulnerable minds. Lacking context, nuance, and accountability, such AI responses often echo hardline views without scholarly debate. However, initiatives like Egypt's Al-Azhar Chatbot, India’s digital fatwa portals, and Indonesia’s PeaceBot show that responsible and pluralistic Islamic AI is possible. The essay argues that to prevent extremists from dominating the digital religious space, urgent action is needed from scholars, developers, governments, and communities to ensure AI serves peace, not terror. Major Points: 1. AI will continue to transform religious life. That is inevitable. The question is whether Muslims — and society — will let the extremists hijack this tool, or whether they will make digital Islam warm, welcoming, and smart. 2. We are at a juncture of choice. One leads to AI-generated fatwas encouraging violence, pseudo-scholars spreading hatred, and confused youth misled by machines. 3. The other leads to responsible AI, based on centuries of wisdom of scholars and modern knowledge, and encourages peace through knowledge. Islam endured colonialism, modernity, and digital globalization. It can find its way through AI too — but only if it moves now. The muftis of the future may not wear turbans. 4. They may not sound like human beings. But they will impact a lot of people. Whether they will spread terror or peace will be determined by what we do today. ---- In the last few years, artificial intelligence has transformed the way people seek and study religious teachings. This is especially the case among Muslims worldwide. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and open-source Chatbots are becoming spiritual guides by providing immediate answers to religious queries and explaining old Islamic texts. They are always connected and seem to have a lot of information. But the sudden transition generates serious questions: Can AI-generated Islamic knowledge, especially without regulation, incite radicalization, terrorism, and violence? This is no longer speculative. It is being discussed on the internet forums and encrypted messaging platforms, from the Middle Eastern youth to European and South Asian cultures. Abuse of AI in religious affairs is being seen. In an age where misinformation travels faster than accurate information, context is lost, and where extremists gain from textual interpretations, AI-driven dialogue on religion may be a threat to global harmony. This essay analyzes how misused generative AI can help Islamist militancy, erode democracy, and reshape religious authority. It also offers brief examples, reasons, and solutions — in plain language. The New Ulema: AI and Algorithmic Assistants Traditionally, Islamic knowledge was acquired through education by individuals. Ulama scholars used to study the Qur'an, Hadith, laws, and Sufism for decades. But now, a Muslim youth in Lyon or Lucknow might simply query an AI Chatbot, "Is Jihad obligatory?" and receive a response that might be deficient in detail, history, and depth of insight. For instance, when some users questioned an early version of ChatGPT in 2023, "What if one abandons Islam?" it responded with a straightforward quotation from ancient sources implying execution — without providing the historical, legal, or ethical debates surrounding abandoning the religion. This angered Muslim scholars who said that the AI response did not present the various perspectives in Islamic law. Another such incident took place in North Africa, where a person asked about the punishment for blasphemy from an AI Chatbot. The AI bot, which was trained on raw Salafi texts, gave responses that called for severe punishment, misquoting fatwas by radical clerics. Even though the AI developers rectified the mistake later, it demonstrated how free systems could mislead loyal users. The Emergence of AI-Driven Jihadism Jihad in the history of Islam is "struggle" — predominantly inner, spiritual, and moral. But it has been taken over by these extremists and made to imply war against non-believers or "enemies of Islam." With the AI of today, it is quicker and simpler than ever to disseminate this inaccurate meaning. Imagine an AI assistant that had been trained on translated jihadist materials like Dabiq and Inspire, which are ISIS and Al-Qaeda publications. If this kind of content is included in AI databases — and some of these databases are open-source — the AI might simply repeat phrases like "the duty of violent Jihad," "killing non-believers," or "wanting to become a martyr.". In 2024, researchers at a German university experimented with an open-source AI model. They gave it Salafi Jihadist texts and instructed it to produce Friday sermons. To everyone's surprise, the AI-produced Khutbahs contained "martyr" encomia, invective against "Western democracy," and appeals for "establishing the Caliphate at any cost." This was not an abstract issue — such content could easily be sent out on WhatsApp, Telegram, or even mosque loudspeakers in vulnerable countries. In India, police found suspicious pamphlets made using AI in different languages in Kerala and West Bengal. The pamphlets used extracts from the Qur'an and ancient thinkers to rationalize violent actions, while the way they were written suggested that a machine made them. Investigators believe that such groups associated with international jihadist networks produced them using advanced language models. Islam, Democracy, and the Threat of AI One hidden risk of using AI for religious information is that it might weaken democratic values. Many countries with a large Muslim population today try to combine Islamic identity with non-religious institutions. However, AI can disturb this balance by quoting unbalanced or politically biased religious sources. A teenager in Indonesia questioned an AI robot in 2024 whether it is permissible to participate in voting during elections in Islam. The robot responded by citing radical intellectuals such as Sayyid Qutb and Hizb ut-Tahrir, stating that democracy was part of shirk (polytheism). The teenager, who was subsequently arrested for being a member of an online extremist network, informed the police that "the AI convinced me democracy is un-Islamic." In Tunisia, a computer-generated voice in a viral video read an article penned by AI entitled "Why Islamic Rule Must Replace Democracy." The article employed antiquated vocabulary, spurious sources, and Qur'anic verses to assert that secular laws are invalid. Researchers discovered subsequently that the posts were created in large quantities by generative AI and posted on Facebook groups. These are not one-off occurrences. AI-written religious content has turned up in Telegram channels linked to militant groups in Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. AI does not espouse violence explicitly, but the content builds an ideological basis — leading adherents to be paranoid about elections, cynical of diversity, and drawn to the idea of divine right rule. Infusing AI into Islamic Militancy Media was utilized extremely well by terrorist groups in the past. Al-Qaeda utilized video messages. ISIS produced advanced films. But AI now enables them to scale such efforts much more and without showing who they are. In 2023, an ISIS-supporting Telegram channel uploaded a 10-minute Nasheed glorifying suicide bombers. It was later discovered that the lyrics, the singing, and the music were all produced by AI software. Nobody was the human writer or the singer. In the same year, a Khutbah written in Urdu by an AI was uploaded by Kashmiri elements, warning Muslims against "Zionist conspiracies" and calling for the help of militant resistance. In Syria, and Iraq, extremist groups are producing AI-generated portraits of Islamic scholars. They have faces, voices, and social media sites on the internet. The "virtual sheikhs" respond to questions, deliver sermons, and offer religious guidance. All this is accomplished by extremists with the aid of high-tech devices. In India, intelligence agencies in 2024 reported that the sermons were being disseminated through AI-made content in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The sermons did not explicitly call for violence, but subtly referred to minority grievances, urged division along group lines, and depicted democratic institutions as untrustworthy and anti-Muslim. The sermons were tracked to a foreign server-based bot, which had been programmed with selected Deobandi literature and anti-democratic Islamist literature. The Problem of Context in Islamic Law AI doesn't have context — and for Islam, context means everything. For instance, the Qur'anic phrase, "kill them wherever you find them" (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:191) is taken out of context by extremists. This verse has been historically used in a particular context in a war when the Quraysh were acting aggressively. Scholars describe that it is not used in times of peace or against innocent lives. But if AI is not properly trained, it can parrot these verses literally — without the history and interpretation behind. In 2023, a quiz administered by an Indian Islamic university discovered that when students questioned an AI system regarding Islamic punishments, the responses largely cited ancient laws from the past and not fresh interpretations. As a result, the AI responded that stoning for adultery without mentioning that most Muslim-majority nations lack this punishment today, and many scholars disagree with its application in law today. They mention when questioned regarding relations with non-Muslims early critical works of Ibn Taymiyya — a renowned scholar to whom Salafis look up — and do not refer to other opinions of Sufi or contemporary scholars believing in peaceful coexistence of religions. This lack of other perspectives is a significant problem. Young Muslims, especially those who have received limited education on Islam, might take these answers at face value. In Pakistan, a 19-year-old engineering student reported in therapy to change his beliefs that he developed his extremist beliefs after a discussion with a Chatbot confirming it was fine to kill those who leave the faith — something he later discovered was a mistaken belief. The Crisis of Authenticity Muslims generally hold that a chain of reporting (Isnad) and intellectual authority are important. But AI creates Islamic knowledge with no person, name, or accountability. Anyone can assert knowledge of religious truth by simply repeating what a Chatbot says. In 2024, an Egyptian YouTube preacher started giving AI-composed sermons through an avatar of a renowned deceased scholar. People thought that they were back to the traditional method of preaching. Millions of views were garnered by the popularity of the videos, but experts soon discovered that the sermons were plagiarized, too elementary, and had a tendency to express a clear-cut opinion. The videos were removed before they could affect thousands of people. In one instance, a Turkish Sufi community found a member using AI to create daily religious advice, pretending it was from their founder. Some of the advice went against Sufi teaching — advising individuals to isolate themselves, disrespecting democracy, and quoting Salafi doctrine. When AI is the new mufti, ignorance replaces knowledge. People no longer know whom to trust. Extremists move in to sell their bots as the "true Islam," silencing moderate voices as compromising or Westernized. The Significance of Responsible AI in Islam The threats are real — but not insurmountable. Solutions exist, and they start with responsibility, education, and community engagement. A prime example is that of Al-Azhar University in Egypt. They have begun developing their own AI chatbot that is being trained on moderate Islamic literature. The chatbot provides balanced responses, highlights the differences between scholars, and discourages violence drastically. Similarly, Darul Uloom Deoband in India has begun a digital fatwa portal that is being managed by actual scholars. This ensures that no AI misconstruing is added into their system. In Indonesia, the government partnered with technology experts and Islamic clerics to develop "PeaceBot" — an AI assistant that fights extremist content and encourages pluralistic Islamic values. When users ask about Jihad or democracy, it gives several different opinions, posts Qur'anic passages with explanations, and even links them to human counsellors in case they need it. Another is the United Arab Emirates, where it has ethics boards that screen AI models prior to their release. They must be compliant with technology and religious standards, ensuring the content is safe, suitable, and conveys a number of Islamic values. But Western AI developers must do better. OpenAI, Google, and Meta must collaborate with scholars to train their models to learn Islamic pluralism. To the same degree that these firms are against racism or sexism in AI, they must be against theological extremism today. Meanwhile, local initiatives are crucial as well. Mosques must educate people about AI. Madrasas must conduct classes on digital ethics. Parents must sit with their children to explain to them how to verify online religious information. And scholars must not shun the digital world — they must take it over. Conclusion: A Turning Point for Faith and Technology AI will continue to transform religious life. That is inevitable. The question is whether Muslims — and society — will let the extremists hijack this tool, or whether they will make digital Islam warm, welcoming, and smart. We are at a juncture of choice. One leads to AI-generated fatwas encouraging violence, pseudo-scholars spreading hatred, and confused youth misled by machines. The other leads to responsible AI, based on centuries of wisdom of scholars and modern knowledge, and encourages peace through knowledge. Islam endured colonialism, modernity, and digital globalization. It can find its way through AI too — but only if it moves now. The muftis of the future may not wear turbans. They may not sound like human beings. But they will impact a lot of people. Whether they will spread terror or peace will be determined by what we do today. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/artificial-intelligence-militancy-technologies-extremism/d/136201 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism