Extension of Scriptural Injunctions to Virtual Reality by Prof. Mohammad Seyed Fatemi, Rizwan Virk & Dr Hashim Bata

Muslim jurists infer, or justify, knowledge of Sharia regulations by primarily taking recourse to the apparent linguistic indication (ẓāhir) of the scriptural sources of the Quran and hadith corpora. These scriptural injunctions of Sharia are regarded as being based on values, with adherence to them considered beneficial to humanity and capable of mitigating harm. While Sharia's scriptural injunctions originated in the context of physical reality, contemporary society is increasingly becoming familiar with virtual environments, including virtual reality, augmented reality, video games and virtual worlds, broadly referred to as the Metaverse. As virtual reality unfolds as a multifaceted digital environment with interactive capabilities akin to the physical world, and with new user interfaces and more realistic graphics, it inevitably introduces new dimensions of ethical and religious inquiry, intersecting with technology, ethics, and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). For instance, Sharia has plentiful injunctions relating to actual reality including injunctions concerning sexuality, violence, deception, economics/trade, unlawful social interaction etc; however, the question that arises is whether these injunctions are also applicable and extendable to human actions in virtual reality? In navigating this uncharted terrain, Muslim jurists and theologians must grapple with a spectrum of normative dilemmas pertaining to both deontological Sharia regulations (al-aḥkām al-taklīfiyya) and situational Sharia regulations (al-aḥkām al-waḍʿiyya). As such, they must meticulously scrutinise semantic and interpretative methodologies to decern the applicability of Sharia injunctions to the complexities of virtual reality. The paper will explore the applicability and extension of scriptural injunctions to the following areas: 1. Individuals’ interaction with virtual objects and the virtual economy. 2. Individuals’ interaction with virtual characters, known as NPCs (non-playable characters), or AI avatars. 3. Individuals’ interaction with another real person’s avatar This paper embarks on a thought-provoking inquiry: to what extent can scriptural injunctions of Sharia be extended from their original context to the domain of virtual reality? If such extension is deemed plausible, what implications arise regarding the applicability of these injunctions in assessing an individual’s actions, interactions, and behaviours within virtual environments? Specifically, our analysis will focus on the relevance of technical Uṣūlī hermeneutical concepts, notably exploring linguistic principles such as the primacy of unrestricted meaning (aṣālat al-iṭlāq) and the primacy of generality (aṣālat al-ʿumūm) of scripture. We seek to determine whether these linguistic principles, traditionally applied in physical reality, retain their validity within virtual reality contexts. This examination encompasses existing virtual environments as well as potential future technologies, such as brain-computer interfaces or haptic suits, which augment users' sensory experiences within the virtual realm.