H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy, delivered a keynote speech via video technology at the opening session of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Promoting Health Promotion and the Realization of Maqasid Sharia”, organized by the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences at its headquarters in Kuwait, on Tuesday 18 Rajab 1445, corresponding to 30 January 2024.

His Excellency began his speech by extending thanks and praise to the government and people of Kuwait for their permanent and tireless sponsorship of the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences, of which IIFA is proud of its tremendous and influential role through its initiatives and visions towards new developments and medical issues. His Excellency praised the accurate and appropriate title of the conference as it revolves around a topic that aims to enable the Ummah and all human societies to know Sharia’s position on this novelty that has become part of our lives today, which is termed as artificial intelligence and is, in fact, part of human intelligence, as it is an intelligence produced by human intelligence, and surpassed the human intelligence that created it.

His Excellency spoke about the importance of establishing Sharia norms and principles for this intelligence for it to become a tool of construction and development, saying: “I record my thanks and appreciation to the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences for its initiative to alert and remind of the importance of establishing Shariah frameworks and controls so that this intelligence created by human intelligence becomes a tool of development, a tool of progress and development for societies, and does not turn into a tool of destruction. I was very pleased that the Islamic Organization has chosen Maqasid Sharia as the framework within which we move in order to protect this intelligence and make it an intelligence that serves man in the same way his natural and real intelligence serves him.”

His Excellency seized the occasion to invite jurists, doctors, and experts on A.I. to close cooperation and sincere integration within the framework of the collective ijtihad institutions represented in the authoritative jurisprudential councils that are open to these new developments and deal with them positively, saying: “It is possible to employ A.I. in a focused manner to preserve the five purposes of Sharia in general and the purpose of preserving the soul, the purpose of preserving the mind and the purpose of preserving wealth in particular, which calls attention to achieve the purposes of the Sharia and make it a tool and a means that benefits us and removes harm, difficulty, and hardship, shortens distances and solves issues for us.”

Accordingly, looking at this type of intelligence through its role in preserving the Maqasid will ensure that controls are put in place to prevent it from becoming a tool of destruction, but rather making it a tool that we deal with to enhance awareness of the rules of religion, preserve souls, safeguard symptoms, and preserve property and minds. His Excellency emphasized that the origin of these means is permissibility, and it is possible that its ruling may move from the circle of permissibility to the circle of obligation at times, as in the case of the need to employ it in the field of medicine, as it has become necessary to use it instead of traditional methods, in many complex surgical operations to reduce the risks associated with those operations.

At the end of his speech, His Excellency called on jurists and doctors to be patient when issuing rulings on new issues and developments in general and on this multi-purpose issue in particular. He hoped that this intelligence would become a means to serve mankind, helping to preserve our religion, safeguard our honor, and preserve our properties and our intellects.