Artificial Intelligence and the Crisis of Religious Authority: A Conceptual Review of Islamic Discourse in the Age of Machine Mediation

Abstract

This study explores the emerging crisis of religious authority in the age of artificial intelligence by examining how machine-mediated systems are reshaping Islamic discourse, interpretive legitimacy, and everyday patterns of religious engagement. Through a qualitative literature review grounded in Meuleman’s discussion of Islam within globalization and Banchoff’s framework of pluralism in world politics, this research synthesizes contemporary debates on AI, digital religion, and Islamic communication into a unified conceptual analysis. The inquiry is driven by the researcher’s concern that many key actors in Islamic education—particularly scholars, educators, and institutional leaders—remain unprepared for the rapid advancement of AI and its capacity to blur long-established boundaries of religious authority. The findings reveal five major shifts: the rise of algorithmic authority that rivals traditional scholarship; the emergence of epistemic confusion generated by pseudo-objective machine outputs; the automation of routine religious tasks that introduces new theological and procedural questions; the ambivalent influence of algorithmic amplification on religious moderation; and a broader transformation in which religious authority becomes a socio-technical rather than purely theological construct. The analysis extends Meuleman’s and Banchoff’s insights by showing that AI constitutes a new stage in the global reconfiguration of Islamic knowledge. This study presents a layered model of authority and proposes institutional pathways to navigate the challenges of the AI era.