This panel features three papers that contribute to ideas of translating Islam across registers, broadly construed. As they consider translating historical processes of Islamic jurisprudence into seemingly handy AI fatwa generators, both accurately translating the Qur’an into American Sign Language as well as ethically translating the capacity to hear the word of God, or translating the space of Protestant American mega churches into the specialized “mega masjid,” these papers explore technologies, urbanization, and access in novel ways. The disclaimers AI fatwa generators pose generators sit uneasily alongside their smooth circulation across platforms, leaving believers often confused on the authority of rulings issued . Deafness in the Qur’an can be a rhetorical device, but when the same terminology is used to describe a disability, deafness as deficiency becomes a moral move. And the translation of mega-spaces from Protestant to Muslim offers opportunities not only to copy, but be uniquely Muslim in America.
This paper examines the emergence and impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) fatwa generators, also known as fatwa engines, in and on contemporary Islamic belief and practice. It contributes to the arena of digital humanities due to its use of humanistic research into digital objects and culture, and to the field of digital Islam by offering a survey and analysis of these fatwa-generating applications. It uses small-scale data mining as well as visual and textual content analysis to understand the characteristics of these fatwa generators, and draws upon relevant literature in both fields in its analysis. It argues that the disclaimers offered by each application reveal a reticence to fully blur the historical distinctions between fatwas as authoritative, actionable jurisprudence and all other religious advice, no matter how well intended or grounded in scripture.
This paper examines the challenges and stakes of American Sign Language translation among Deaf Muslims. Drawing on the public archives of Global Deaf Muslim (GDM), a Washington, D.C.-based educational and advocacy organization, the paper considers such translational work within a broader ethic of ta'arruf, which rejects deficiency-driven concepts of deafness in favor of one that incorporates Deafness within Islam's overall cultural, linguistic, ethnic diversity. What are the stakes of "thinking" Deafness this way, and what are the technologies and translational techniques required to carry out this work? Examining GDM's video translations of Qur'anic verses into ASL, as well as interpretation techniques in other educational materials, I demonstrate how the semantic and sensory challenges of this work also implicate theological problems of divine "voicing." I argue that by meeting such challenges, GDM interpreters are “deafening” their faith, defining it in ways that enrich its ethics of ta‘arruf through Deaf epistemologies.
The Mega Masjid is both a physical space and an institutional variety. It boasts key features of Sunni masajid, producing a sense of universality while iteratively reimagining the American Masjid as a location of placemaking and cultural innovation. This paper explores how the Mega Masjid responds to and adopts features of American Protestant congregationalism to produce a unique and culturally salient masjid model. Through a comparative analysis of the Mega Church, the Mega Masjid emerges as more than a product of Protestant Hegemony, but rather a space aimed at meeting the ever-evolving spiritual and material demands of an American Muslim future. It is designed and redesigned to serve as an oasis retreat for American Muslims, a break from the aggressive heat of protestant hegemony, secularist pressures, and anti-Muslim racism. A ‘one-stop-shop’ for the American Muslim Family, Mega Masjids reimagine and redefine masjid space, programming and amenities beyond traditional ritual worship.