Lecture 4:

Decision Making in Islam

Professional Responsibility
 Decision making in Islam
• Ijmah
– Ijmah is an Arabic term referring to
the consensus or agreement of the Muslim
community
– two kinds of consensus are:
• ijma al-ummah - a whole community consensus.
• ijma al-aimmah - a consensus by religious authorities.
• E.g. consensus on Islamic banking,
 Decision making in Islam (contd.)
• Qiyas

– Qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of

the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in
order to apply
• known injunction (command) to a new circumstance and create a new
injunction.

– Here the ruling of the Sunnah and the Qur'an may be used as a means
• to solve or provide a response to a new problem that may arise.

• E.g. Is chatting allowed in Islam?

• Discussion: Inductive vs. deductive reasoning
 Decision making in Islam (contd.)
• Ijtihad
– Ijtihad is the making of a decision in Islamic law (sharia) by personal
effort, independently of any school (madhhab) of jurisprudence (fiqh)
– Mujtahid is an Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret
sharia by ijtihad

• Following conditions are defined for ijtehad

– Knowledge of the Quran
– Knowledge of the ahadith of the Blessed Prophet
– Knowledge of the sayings of the Salaf-us-Salaheen; that is to know
which rulings they disagreed and upon which they were unanimous.
– Knowledge of Arabic linguistics
– Knowledge of Qiyas, the knowledge by which one learns the method
of deriving a ruling from the Quran and Sunnah.
 Decision making in Islam (contd.)
• The following points are presented in order to clarify the purpose
of ijtihad:
– God is all-powerful, all-knowing.
– God created laws for humankind and only God has the authority to do so.
– God appointed messengers to convey the laws to humankind.
– God appointed imams to guide humankind about the laws.
– At present, neither the Prophet (S.W), nor the imams are accessible.
– Therefore, qualified jurists have the duty to find God's law, not create
God's laws.
– Therefore, ijtihad is the process of finding God's law from the Qur'an and
the hadith using specific methods.
• E.g. defining policies/rules for an interest free Islamic Banking
system in the light of Quran o Sunnah
• E.g. defining policies/rules for an interest free
Islamic Banking system in the light of Quran o
Sunnah
 General guidelines for ethical decision
making
• Professional standard analysis – IEEE/ACM
• Roles & responsibilities analysis
• Stakeholder analysis
• Systemic policy analysis – local/international laws
• Ethical theory analysis – better ethical understanding
of situation
 Professional Responsibility
• Computer professional (C.P)
– People who design, build, program & service
computerized devices, as well as who plan &
manage such activities
– Enormous power to affect world in good, bad way,
– E.g. programs to control airplanes, nuclear power
plant, medical devices,
 Professional Responsibility
• Computer Practitioners – people who design,
build, program computerized devices, as well as
who plan & manage such activities
• Affect the world in good or bad way
• E.g. computer programs to control airplanes,
nuclear power plants, medical devices, space
stations
• Since lives of many people depends on such
programs C.P should make ethically &
professionally sound judgments & decisions.
• What does it mean to be a professional?

– Mastering an extensive body of knowledge & skills

– Providing an important service
– Exercising monopolistic control over relevant
services to society -- license or certificate to practice
– Accepting a code of professional conduct
 Professional Context
• The complex context in which a computer professional
normally functions include a variety of roles
• Roles carry related ethical responsibilities &
obligations
• Employer to employee
• Professional to professional
• Professional to client
• Professional to user
• Professional to society
 Employer to Employee
• Relationship between an employer & employee
is contractual one
– Employee agrees to carry out assigned jobs
– Employer agrees to pay compensation
– Employer responsibility to provide safe env. Tools &
also avoid asking employee to do anything illegal
– Employee’s responsibility is to be loyal, honest
his/her qualification or experience, do not reveal
trade secrets
 Professional to Professional
• Team members
• Share work & cooperate
• Provide helpful advice & assistance
 Professional to client
• Computer professionals have clients
– people or organizations with whom they have
contracted to provide a computer related product
or service
– Nature of responsibility depends on how
professional to client relationship is defined
 Professional to client (contd.)
• Agency;
– Clients make all significant decisions & the C.P merely carries out
those decisions
– Shortcoming: special knowledge of professional is not effectively
used

• Paternalistic
– Professional makes all the decision and client is treated like a child

• Fiduciary
– Responsibility is shared for making important decisions
– Trust is essential
 Professional to user
• C.P often creates h.w or s.w intended for use
by a range of people
• E.g. airplane manufacturer may hire a s.w firm
for developing a s.w package, the s.w will
affect a diverse user community, crew,
passengers etc.
• C.P must accept job only if s/he is competent
enough.
 Professional to Society
• Work of C.P can easily impact millions of people
• Safety of people depends on reliable function of s.w
package
• Computer technology has rapidly incorporated into
every field from medial, to banks to education to
communication, defense, industry
• Contract: society grants rights to practice profession,
C.P agrees to practice in a manner to benefit society
• Environmentalist view