Sharī‘ah Academy, International Islamic University Islamabad, organized a public lecture on “Generative Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Inheritance Law: Integrating Timeless Tradition with Cutting-Edge Innovation.” The lecture was delivered by Dr. Muhammad Zubair Abbasi, Lecturer in Law at Royal Holloway University of London. Dr. Mirza Omer Beg, an accomplished AI expert with extensive experience in the field, participated in the session as a discussant.

 The lecture was attended by faculty members, scholars, students, and a significant online audience.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akram, Director General of the Academy, welcomed the distinguished speakers and participants. He said this lecture marks the beginning of a new series of public lectures hosted by the Academy. The idea behind this series is to engage with emerging challenges in contemporary law and society. Dr. Akram emphasized that the rise of Generative AI is one such challenge that cannot and should not be ignored.

In his talk, Dr. Zubair Abbasi explained the basic operational modes of Generative AI tools and shared his findings based on a focused case study involving Islamic inheritance law. Dr. Abbasi compared the performance of four leading AI platforms—ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Deepseek—and found ChatGPT to have the highest accuracy rate, slightly above 80%, closely followed by Deepseek. Further, he noted that while these platforms can handle simple cases of Islamic inheritance law, they often fail in complex scenarios, like the issue known as Himārīya, primarily because they depend heavily on internet-based data rather than authoritative legal sources. He also raised concerns about the occasional fabrication of references and unreliable estimations by these AI platforms. He noted that such limitations imply that generative AI can and should not be relied upon in sensitive areas like Islamic Law without human expert verification.

In the subsequent discussion, Dr. Mirza Omer Beg offered an in-depth overview of the technical evolution of AI platforms, highlighting key players such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. He pointed out that these platforms are aligned with the data and policies of their parent companies, and hence, their responses may reflect corporate alignment. Dr. Beg also identified potential risks and ethical concerns associated with future developments in AI, urging scholars and policymakers to remain vigilant.

The session concluded with a lively question-and-answer segment, where students and faculty engaged with the speakers, raising critical queries about AI’s use, reliability, and future in Islamic legal contexts.

Prof. Dr. Akram thanked the speakers for their valuable contributions and expressed hope that this lecture series would continue to inspire meaningful discourse at the intersection of technology and Islamic law.