Algorithmic Islam in Constructing Students’ Comprehension of Islamic History and Religious Identity in the Era of Generative AI

Bakti Komalasari (Departement of Islamic Education, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Curup, Indonesia)

MUMTAZ: Jurnal Pendidikan Agama Islam
Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026): June 2026

The findings show that while students utilize AI as an "instant tutor" to gain an initial overview of Islamic Cultural History, AI-generated answers also impose an algorithmic framing that tends to be succinct, neutral, moralistic, and occasionally insensitive to local contexts. Students negotiate these AI responses with instructors, Islamic texts, academic literature, and other sources, although some exhibit an epistemic dependence on answers that appear objective. This study proposes the concept of "algorithmic Islam" as a lens for understanding Islamic knowledge production, historical memory, and religious identity shaped by human-AI encounters. Consequently, the teaching of Islamic Cultural History must. The findings show that while students utilize AI as an "instant tutor" to gain an initial overview of Islamic Cultural History (ICH), AI-generated responses impose an algorithmic framing that tends to be succinct, neutral, moralistic, and occasionally insensitive to local subtleties. Students actively negotiate these AI outputs through cross-referencing them with lecturers, authoritative Islamic texts, academic literature, and other scholarly sources, although some exhibit an epistemic dependence on answers that project an impression of objectivity. Furthermore, this study proposes the concept of "algorithmic Islam" as a theoretical lens for understanding Islamic knowledge production, historical memory, and religious identity created through human-AI encounters. Consequently, the pedagogy of Islamic Cultural History has to critically integrate AI literacy, historical literacy, and religious literacy.