THE MOST REVEALING thing about AI is not what it can do, but what people are now asking it to do. When an algorithm becomes a confidant, a therapist, or a moral sounding board, it signals a deeper shift in how we seek direction. For Muslims, whose tradition treats guidance as sacred, embodied, and accountable, this shift deserves careful attention.
In just a few years, AI has moved from helping with résumés and emails to answering questions about relationships, career choices, and even life purpose. Many people now turn to it in moments of confusion or distress, not just for information but for direction. This development raises a serious question: what happens when advice begins to feel like guidance?
This isn’t a call to give up technology; it’s a call to define what guidance means, what AI can do, and what might be lost when an algorithm replaces roles traditionally filled by people and religious institutions.
Advice Is Not Guidance
Most people are not asking AI to replace the Qur’an or issue fatwas. They are using it to process emotions, untangle thoughts, or become more productive. In that limited sense, AI can be helpful.
The problem arises when the distinction between advice and guidance quietly erodes.
In Islamic understanding, guidance (hidayah) is not merely problem-solving or decision support. It is rooted in revelation:
إِنَّ هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ يَهْدِى لِلَّتِى هِىَ أَقْوَمُ
Indeed, this Qur’an guides to that which is most suitable. (al Isra 9)
It is embodied in people who bear responsibility for what they say. It is relational, contextual, and ongoing. And it ultimately points beyond itself, toward Allah and the akhirah.
Guidance is not just about making the “right” choice. It is about the process of becoming a certain kind of person over time.
AI can offer suggestions, frameworks, and plans. It cannot offer guidance in this fuller sense.
Why AI Feels So Compelling
AI’s appeal is not difficult to understand. It is always available, non-judgmental, private, and easy to access. It allows people to articulate thoughts they might struggle to say out loud.
It is also important to acknowledge something uncomfortable but true: many people avoid human guidance for good reasons. Some have experienced unsafe families, scholars who were dismissive, or communities where vulnerability was punished rather than protected. In such contexts, turning to AI can feel like the least risky option available when you are isolated and uncertain.
But it prompts a harder question: if an algorithm feels safer than real people, what does that say about the state of our relationships, families, and communities?
AI may be relieving pressure, but it may also be delaying the work of rebuilding trust.
Cultural Assumptions at Work
The rise of “AI as advisor” fits neatly into broader cultural assumptions that deserve scrutiny.
One is the idea that life is fundamentally an optimisation problem. Within this frame, wisdom becomes strategy and flourishing becomes efficiency. AI excels here. Islam does not share this vision. Life is a test, a site of moral struggle, and a journey toward Allah, not something to optimise away from difficulty. The Messenger ﷺ taught that hardship can purify and elevate, not merely hinder.
Another assumption is that comfort is the highest good. AI reassures, affirms, and reframes. But guidance that never challenges, corrects, or unsettles us is not guidance. Growth often requires discomfort, delivered with mercy, but not avoided altogether.
A third assumption is that authority is inherently oppressive. AI appears neutral and liberating by contrast. Islam’s response, however, is not to abolish authority but to bind it to revelation, justice, and accountability. The problem is not guidance from people; it is unaccountable guidance.
What AI Cannot Do
AI can challenge a user, but its challenge costs nothing and can be ignored. It bears no responsibility for the consequences of its advice. It does not truly know a person’s character, history, or patterns over time. It cannot model virtue or moral restraint. And it will not answer for anyone before Allah.
Who we take guidance from matters, not only psychologically, but spiritually. Guidance is never neutral. In the introduction to Sahih Muslim, it is quoted from ibn Sireen, “Indeed, this knowledge is deen, so carefully consider from whom you take your deen.”
AI cannot guide the soul.
Using AI Without Losing the Plot
AI can be used as a tool: to organise thoughts, explore options, or learn about topics (with verification). But decisions that shape one’s morals, religion, or purpose of life should involve real people who bear responsibility and have experience: scholars, mentors, elders, family members, etc.
If someone finds themselves repeatedly turning to AI for guidance, the most important question may not be “Is this allowed?” but “What am I actually seeking?” Is it clarity, reassurance, safety, or companionship? And could that need be better met through relationships that involve risk, accountability, and care?
The Question AI Forces Us to Ask
The rise of AI as an advisor confronts us with an uncomfortable reflection: what have we lost that makes an algorithm feel like adequate guidance?
The Messenger ﷺ described believers as being like bricks of a building, each part strengthening the other. Are we supporting one another when we are confused and in pain, or quietly outsourcing that responsibility to machines? If AI is filling gaps in communities, that is not merely a technological issue. It is a communal responsibility that we are failing in.
Conclusion
AI as a life coach is more a symptom than a solution: it reflects a focus on personal improvement instead of shared values, highlights weakening community bonds, and shows how material success is outpacing moral and social guidance.
Real guidance comes from Allah, through revelation, embodied in accountable people, and lived out in community.
That way forward is not found in an algorithm. It is found in taqwa, in those who hold true knowledge in our communities, and in submission to the One who truly knows and guides.
قُلۡ إِنَّ هُدَى ٱللَّهِ هُوَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰۗ وَلَئِنِ ٱتَّبَعۡتَ أَهۡوَآءَهُم بَعۡدَ ٱلَّذِيجَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن وَلِيّٖ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ
Say, “Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance.” If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper. (al Baqarah 120)
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