Philosophy of ICT & Islam

Philosophy of ICT and Islam

Presented by,

A.H. Mohammed Yacoob (0324925)

Can writing a piece of code be considered as an act or

worship??

Agenda

• Philosophy of ICT & Islam

• Shariah compliant ICT professional.

• Virtual reality

• Globalization and F/OSS

• Hot spots & Iman spots

• Conclusion

Philosophy of ICT in Islam

• Based on Quran and Sunnah within tawhidic paradigm

• To recognize Allah as creator and all creations are subservient to Him.

• ICT v/s Islam:– Fundamentally different– Scientific study; Islam believes in metaphysics– Secular view; Islam and all aspects are inter

related

Shariah Compliant IT Professional• A + B = CWhere,

– A = Allah as the Creator or Supreme being (Syahadah)

– B = Benevolent acts of kindness (Quran, sunnah, ethics & privacy)– (performing algorithmic acts of kindness)

– C = Caliph of Allah (khalifah and Abd’Allah)– (i.e; fulfilling duties as Rahmat-ul-alameen)

• Sources : Quran 3:159 , 48:29 , 107: 1-7 and many more…

– Hadith - Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi • "Those who are kind and considerate to Allah's creatures, Allah bestows

His kindness and affection on them. Show kindness to the creatures on the earth so that Allah may be kind to you."

• Jewish prostitute and quenching the thirst of a dog.

Virtual worlds (Currently…)

• A growing number of Second Life users make a living entirely by selling virtual real estate or manufacturing virtual products. (http://secondlife.com/) or even ‘Norrath’ . (A country in economic terms!!)

• The Swedish government announced it would create an embassy in Second Life -- a place for virtual tourists to find information about visiting the real country.

• A Beijing-based technology firm, China Recreation District (CRD), has announced plans to launch the "largest project on virtual worlds" in China, with support from the government, according to a report by Christopher Sherman on the Virtual World News (VWN) website on 26 November 2007.

• The aim of the project is to provide infrastructure for a virtual economy in which businesses worldwide are able to trade, according to CRD.

• The virtual worlds are perceived as the way of the future in terms of how people will communicate.

Applications of Virtual Reality

(… Rewind 1400 yrs back) Virtual Reality• " Glory to "Allah" Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred

Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things)."  (Quran : 17:1)

• Then he saw a people who wore loincloths on the fronts and on their backs. They were roaming the way camels and sheep roam about. They were eating thistles and zaqqum -- the fruit of a tree that grows in hell and whose fruit resembles the head of devils (37:62-63) -- and white-hot coals and stones of Gehenna. He said: "Who are these, O Jibril?" He replied: "These are the ones who did not meet the obligation of paying sadaqa from what they possessed, whereas Allah never kept anything from them."

• Ibn Kathir writes: 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with Him, whilst delivering a Friday sermon in Madinah called out and said, 'Ya Sariah! The mountain.' That very moment, Sariah, may Allah be pleased with Him, was in a place in Persia called Nahawand, engaged in a battle with the enemy.

•What 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with Him, meant by his call was: O Sariah! Seek protection behind the mountain.  Sariah, may Allah be pleased with Him, heard this and was subsequently saved. When the people heard these words during the Friday they were surprised.  After winning the battle, Sariah came to Madinah.  He told about how they had been under attack by the enemy. Suddenly they had heard  'Umar's voice and hid behind the mountain and were saved.

Philosophy of Globalization and Free/Open source

• Global citizens (IT Professionals in this context) to a common cause of helping people or rather common good.

• ICT professionals with their special skills, spread out across the globe contribute for One project. (Eg: Adempiere (M’sian leader))

• “And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the difference of your languages and colours. Verily, in that are indeed signs for people of sound knowledge. (Qur'an, 30:22)

• Differences of colors, languages and races are a sign of Allah's creative power and greatness, this diversity gives beauty and variety to the world.

• Prophets Mosque was a boiling pot of different cultures. For e.g; Salman Farsi (Persian), Suhayb al-Rumi (Roman), Bilal (African) etc… even scholars Abu Hamid Ghazali, Imam Bukhari etc

Don’t trust me…

•  'No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and Endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition.' (H.A.R. Gibb, Whither Islam, London, 193Z p. 379)

• 'The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue...'  (A.J. Toynbee, Civilization on Trial, New York, p. 205)

• However, greed and prejudice takes its ugly form in societies and leads to tribalism and racism which has nothing to do with Islam.

Wireless Hot Spots

• Do I need to define ? (visit Starbucks, Al-Ain shop or even KICT when the labs are closed)

• Socialize, access & share information; in real world and online.

• Closer the proximity to hotspot greater the bandwidth.

Iman spots• Prophet (SAW), never stayed in any place

unless he built a mosque therein for the believers to gather.

• Mosques carry a great social and spiritual place in the lives of the Muslims.

• The mosque unites Muslims, refines their souls and awakens their minds and hearts. It shows their strength and cohesiveness.

• “My houses on earth are Mosques, and people visiting Mosques vitalize it.”

• "If a group of people gathered in a house of God’s houses, reading God’s book (the Qur’an), discussing it between themselves, angels and God’s mercy would surround them, and God would mention them in a congregation better than that".

• The Prophet, said: "There are seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade except His shade.. a man whose heart is attached to the mosques..” al-Bukhari (1/356/no. 629), Muslim (2/493 no. 2248)

Can writing a piece of code be considered as an act or

worship??

• "If you do good, you do good for your ownselves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves." (Al-Isra : 7)

• “All actions are judged by motives, and each person will be rewarded according to their intention.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)

• sincere intentions + acts of kindness = act of worship