Negotiating Religious Authority in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Qur’anic Interpretation in Digital Environments

Abstract

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the production, access, and circulation of religious knowledge, including Qur’anic interpretation. This study examines how AI-mediated Qur’anic interpretation reshapes the conditions of religious interpretive authority in digital environments. Employing a qualitative critical integrative literature review, the study synthesizes scholarship on digital religious authority, algorithmic mediation, Qur’anic interpretation, and artificial intelligence. The analysis focuses on the relationship between AI-generated interpretation and the epistemic foundations of tafsir, particularly source attribution, methodological grounding, contextualization, and scholarly accountability. The findings indicate that generative AI does not automatically replace traditional religious authority but introduces new forms of AI-mediated epistemic credibility based on accessibility, computational capacity, responsiveness, and linguistic fluency. However, such credibility does not necessarily constitute religious legitimacy because Qur’anic interpretation remains connected to established textual, methodological, and scholarly traditions. The study further identifies four mechanisms through which authority is negotiated: validation, contestation, complementation, and hybridization. Based on these findings, the study proposes a conceptual model of negotiated religious authority, in which traditional scholarly legitimacy interacts with technologically mediated forms of religious knowledge production. The study contributes to digital religion and Qur’anic studies by explaining how generative AI transforms not merely access to religious knowledge but the conditions through which interpretive authority is constructed and legitimized.