THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF ISLAMIC LAW: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

The rapid development of digital technologies has transformed the ways in which Islamic knowledge, legal opinions, religious guidance, and social interactions are produced, accessed, disseminated, and evaluated. Digital platforms, artificial intelligence, social media, online fatwa services, Islamic financial technologies, and digital legal databases have expanded access to Islamic law while simultaneously generating new challenges concerning legal authority, methodological rigor, authenticity, privacy, accountability, and ethical responsibility. This study aims to examine the digital transformation of Islamic law by analyzing its major challenges, opportunities, and ethical implications in contemporary society. The study employs a qualitative library research approach based on a critical analysis of academic literature, classical and contemporary Islamic legal sources, scholarship on digital Islam, and literature concerning artificial intelligence, digital governance, and Islamic ethics. The findings indicate that digitalization has democratized access to Islamic legal knowledge, accelerated the dissemination of fatwas, expanded opportunities for ijtihad, and facilitated the development of new forms of Islamic legal services. At the same time, digital transformation has produced challenges involving the fragmentation of religious authority, the spread of inaccurate religious information, algorithmic mediation of religious knowledge, superficial interpretation of Islamic texts, privacy risks, commercialization, and uncertainty concerning digital evidence and accountability. The analysis further demonstrates that Islamic legal principles such as amanah, ʿilm, maslahah, maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, tabayyun, and dafʿ al-ḍarar provide important ethical foundations for governing digital Islamic legal practices. The study proposes an ethical framework based on authenticity, scholarly competence, transparency, accountability, human oversight, privacy protection, contextual interpretation, and public benefit. Digital transformation should therefore be understood not as a replacement of traditional Islamic legal authority but as a technological environment that requires methodological adaptation while preserving the epistemological and ethical foundations of Islamic law.

Kata Kunci: