Making Islamic Scholarship Accessible with AI

Published by: Md. Ashraful Haque, Greentech Apps Foundation – R&D
Date: 14 July 2025

What We Built

We created an AI system that helps people understand hadith texts better. Islamic scholars like Imam Malik and Imam Bukhari (رحمهم الله) already did amazing work preserving the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). Our job is simply to make their work easier to read and understand.

The AI takes a hadith text and breaks it down into clear parts:

• Who narrated it (the chain of people)
• What the teaching actually says
• Any scholar’s notes or comments

Why This Matters

For 1,400 years, Islamic scholars have carefully preserved hadith texts. But reading them can be challenging because:

• They’re written in classical Arabic
• The narrator chains can be complex
• Scholarly notes are mixed with the main teaching
• You need to know a lot about Islamic history to understand the structure

Many Muslims today struggle to access this treasure of knowledge. New Muslims, busy professionals, students, and even experienced Muslims sometimes find these texts difficult to navigate.

At Greentech Apps Foundation, our mission is to “Bring people closer to Allah” through technology. We’ve been making Islamic apps since 2015, serving millions of users worldwide with our Al Quran app and Hadith Collection. This AI project is our latest effort to make Islamic knowledge more accessible.

How It Works

We teach AI to understand hadith structure using traditional scholarly rules. Here’s the simple process:

Step 1: Give the AI a hadith text exactly as scholars wrote it Step 2: The AI uses scholarly knowledge we taught it to identify different parts Step 3: It separates the narrator chain, the teaching, and any comments Step 4: It presents everything in a clear, organized way

The key is that we don’t change anything – we just make it easier to see what’s already there.

Examples

Example 1: Handling Multiple Chains and Family References

Original Hadith from Imam Malik’s Muwatta:

وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ الْقَاسِمِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ مَنْ كَانَ عَلَيْهِ قَضَاءُ رَمَضَانَ فَلَمْ يَقْضِهِ – وَهُوَ قَوِيٌّ عَلَى صِيَامِهِ – حَتَّى جَاءَ رَمَضَانُ آخَرُ فَإِنَّهُ يُطْعِمُ مَكَانَ كُلِّ يَوْمٍ مِسْكِينًا مُدًّا مِنْ حِنْطَةٍ وَعَلَيْهِ مَعَ ذَلِكَ الْقَضَاءُ. وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّهُ بَلَغَهُ عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ، مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ

How Our System Worked:

Step 1 – Identifying Narrator Chains: The AI found two separate transmission paths:

• First chain: Malik → Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim → “أَبِيهِ” (his father)
• Second chain: Malik → Sa’id ibn Jubayr (through “بَلَغَهُ” – indirect transmission)

Step 2 – Resolving Family References: The AI understood that “أَبِيهِ” (his father) refers to al-Qasim, because Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim’s father is al-Qasim. This is traditional Islamic scholarship – the AI just made it clear.

Step 3 – Recognizing Transmission Types:

• “حَدَّثَنِي” (he narrated to me) = direct transmission
• “بَلَغَهُ” (it reached him) = indirect transmission The AI knows these are different types that scholars always distinguished.

Step 4 – Extracting the Teaching: The main content is the ruling about missed Ramadan fasts: if someone delays making up fasts until the next Ramadan, they must feed a poor person for each day AND still make up the fasts.

What Our AI Extracted:

{

  “narrators”: [

    [“مالك”, “عبد الرحمن بن القاسم”, “القاسم”],

    [“مالك”, “سعيد بن جبير”]

  ],

  “narrator_prefix”: “وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ الْقَاسِمِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّهُ بَلَغَهُ عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ،”,

  “content”: “مَنْ كَانَ عَلَيْهِ قَضَاءُ رَمَضَانَ فَلَمْ يَقْضِهِ – وَهُوَ قَوِيٌّ عَلَى صِيَامِهِ – حَتَّى جَاءَ رَمَضَانُ آخَرُ فَإِنَّهُ يُطْعِمُ مَكَانَ كُلِّ يَوْمٍ مِسْكِينًا مُدًّا مِنْ حِنْطَةٍ وَعَلَيْهِ مَعَ ذَلِكَ الْقَضَاءُ. مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ”,

  “narrator_postfix”: “”

}

Why This Matters:

• For New Muslims: They can see clearly who said what, instead of struggling with “his father”
• For Students: The two different transmission types become obvious
• For Everyone: The Islamic ruling becomes accessible without getting lost in the complex Arabic structure

Example 2: Complex Dialogue Between Companions

Original Hadith from Imam Malik’s Muwatta:

حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعَائِشَةَ أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنَا يَوْمَئِذٍ، حَدِيثُ السِّنِّ أَرَأَيْتِ قَوْلَ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى ‏{‏إِنَّ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنْ حَجَّ الْبَيْتَ أَوِ اعْتَمَرَ فَلاَ جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا‏}‏ فَمَا عَلَى الرَّجُلِ شَىْءٌ أَنْ لاَ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا ‏.‏ فَقَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ كَلاَّ لَوْ كَانَ كَمَا تَقُولُ لَكَانَتْ فَلاَ جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ لاَ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا إِنَّمَا أُنْزِلَتْ هَذِهِ الآيَةُ فِي الأَنْصَارِ كَانُوا يُهِلُّونَ لِمَنَاةَ وَكَانَتْ مَنَاةُ حَذْوَ قُدَيْدٍ وَكَانُوا يَتَحَرَّجُونَ أَنْ يَطُوفُوا بَيْنَ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةِ فَلَمَّا جَاءَ الإِسْلاَمُ سَأَلُوا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى ‏{‏إِنَّ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنْ حَجَّ الْبَيْتَ أَوِ اعْتَمَرَ فَلاَ جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا ‏}‏

How Our System Worked:

Step 1 – Identifying the Narrator Chain: The AI traced the transmission: Yahya → Malik → Hisham ibn ‘Urwah → “أَبِيهِ” (his father) → ‘A’ishah (رضي الله عنها)

Step 2 – Resolving “His Father”: The AI understood that Hisham ibn ‘Urwah’s father is ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, a famous companion and scholar. So “أَبِيهِ” = ‘Urwah.

Step 3 – Recognizing the Complex Structure: This isn’t just a simple teaching – it’s a preserved educational conversation where:

• Young ‘Urwah asks ‘A’ishah (رضي الله عنها) a question about a Quranic verse
• ‘A’ishah (رضي الله عنها) corrects his understanding
• She provides detailed historical context
• The whole dialogue is preserved as Islamic education

Step 4 – Handling Embedded Quranic Verses: The AI recognized that there are Quranic verses quoted within the hadith and preserved them exactly as part of the conversation.

Step 5 – Preserving Personal Context: The AI kept ‘Urwah’s note “وَأَنَا يَوْمَئِذٍ، حَدِيثُ السِّنِّ” (I was young at that time) because it’s important context for understanding the teaching relationship.

What Our AI Extracted:

{

  “narrators”: [[“يحيى”, “مالك”, “هشام بن عروة”, “عروة”, “عائشة”]],

  “narrator_prefix”: “حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعَائِشَةَ أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنَا يَوْمَئِذٍ،”,

  “content”: “حَدِيثُ السِّنِّ أَرَأَيْتِ قَوْلَ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى… [complete dialogue]”,

  “narrator_postfix”: “”

}

Why This Is Impressive:

• Educational Dialogue: The AI understood this wasn’t a simple statement but a teaching conversation
• Historical Context: It preserved ‘A’ishah’s (رضي الله عنها) explanation about pre-Islamic practices
• Quranic Integration: It kept the Quranic verses as part of the natural flow
• Personal Details: It maintained the human elements like ‘Urwah being young

What This Means for Users:

• Students can see how Companions taught each other
• New Muslims can understand the question-answer format of Islamic learning
• Teachers can use this as an example of how to explain Quranic verses
• Everyone gets access to ‘A’ishah’s (رضي الله عنها) wisdom about the historical context of revelation

What We Can Handle

Our system successfully works with:

• Simple narrator chains: A tells B tells C
• Complex parallel chains: Multiple people narrating the same teaching
• Family relationships: When someone says “his father” or “his uncle”
• Different transmission types: Direct hearing vs. indirect reports
• Scholarly comments: Notes and explanations from scholars
• Dialogue structures: Conversations preserved in hadiths
• Cross-references: When texts refer to similar teachings

Where We’re Still Learning

We’re honest about areas where we need improvement:

• Very complex multi-chain texts: Sometimes the boundaries get unclear
• Regional scholarly styles: Different traditions use different formats
• Manuscript variations: When scholars note different versions

We approach these challenges with humility, knowing that Islamic scholarship is already complete and our job is just to serve it better.

What This Means for Muslims

For New Muslims: Hadith texts become less intimidating when you can see the structure clearly

For Students: Learning becomes easier when complex chains are laid out step by step

For Busy People: Quick access to teachings without struggling through complex Arabic

For Teachers: Better tools to explain hadith structure to students

For Scholars: More time for analysis instead of manual text processing

For Everyone: The wisdom of Islamic scholars becomes more accessible worldwide

Our Vision

This technology will enhance our existing Islamic apps:

• Al Quran (Tafsir & By Word): Connect Quranic verses with related hadiths
• Hadith Collection (All in One): Better search and understanding features
• SearchDeen: More powerful search across Islamic literature
• Educational Tools: Help people learn about Islamic sciences

We Value Your Feedback

This is just the beginning. We’ve built something that works, but we want to make it even better at serving Islamic scholarship.

We especially welcome feedback from:

• Islamic scholars and students
• Teachers of Islamic studies
• Users of our existing apps
• Anyone working with hadith texts
• Muslim communities worldwide

You can help us by:

• Testing the system with different types of hadiths
• Pointing out areas where it could serve scholarship better
• Suggesting improvements based on your experience
• Sharing how this could help your work or studies

Contact us:

• Website: gtaf.org
• Email: contact@gtaf.org
• Through our existing apps and platforms

Our Commitment

At Greentech Apps Foundation, we’re committed to:

• Serving traditional scholarship, not replacing it
• Preserving authenticity of all Islamic texts
• Making knowledge accessible to the global Muslim community
• Continuous improvement based on community feedback
• Following Islamic principles in all our work

We believe technology should serve faith, and this AI system represents our latest effort to bring people closer to Allah through better access to Islamic knowledge.

The comprehensive work of Islamic scholars is already perfect. We’re just building bridges to make it more accessible to those who need it.

Greentech Apps Foundation is a UK-based charity dedicated to creating beneficial Islamic applications. Since 2015, we’ve served millions of Muslims worldwide with apps like Al Quran and Hadith Collection. Learn more at gtaf.org