A short 3-page commentary/article, published in Philosophy & Technology, volume 38, article 74, in May 2025 that considers questions such as:

Who owns data?

Who should benefit from data?

Can data be treated as a form of digital endowment?

How should AI developers balance innovation with Islamic ethical obligations?

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), data is often called the new oil—an essential asset for training algorithms and fueling intelligent systems. However, the ethical considerations surrounding this data’s ownership, use, and benefits remain contentious. The concept of data endowment—viewing data generated by individuals as a valuable resource—can be ethically aligned with the Islamic tradition of waqf (endowment), offering a culturally grounded model for responsible AI development.
In Islamic jurisprudence, a waqf is an inalienable charitable endowment, often comprising assets like land or buildings, whose returns are used for the public good. The endowment is held in trust, and its custodians are ethically and legally bound to manage it without personal gain, in line with the principles of maslaha (public benefit) and adl (justice) (Kozlowski, 1985). If we reimagine data as a modern form of waqf, AI systems built upon such data must operate with the same moral constraints— serving community welfare, ensuring equity, and preventing harm.

In digital contexts, individuals contribute vast amounts of personal data, knowingly or unknowingly, that are used to train predictive models and intelligent systems. While often invisible, this data endowment has significant social and economic value. Yet, as Zuboff (2019) argues in her seminal work The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, the commodification of personal data frequently occurs without consent or fair redistribution of benefits (Zuboff & York, 2019). From an Islamic ethical standpoint, …

Abdulqadir J. Nashwan

Springer Philosophy & Technology (2025) 38:74
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00905-5