The Future of Islamic Research

Usul is an AI-powered platform designed to evolve how Islamic research is done in the twenty-first century, at a time when online research and AI technology are fueling tomorrow's world. But the public lacks easy access to a single site of online sources for Islamic knowledge, much less sites that combine windows for Islamic research with the latest AI technology. Moreover, advances in AI that make ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other sites so useful for general knowledge do not yet give reliable or credible answers for the universe of Islamic knowledge—where credibility and reliability are at a premium. In large part, the divergence between existing AI models and Islamic research has to do with the lack of sources: the general models were trained on the sources available on the internet—good, bad, and ugly.

Unfortunately, most Islamic sources are not available online, and those that are available mix the classical/primary sources that a Muslim scholar would recognize as authoritative (such as Qur'an, hadith, fiqh works, historical chronicles, and court cases from recognized figures) with millions of opinions, analysis, and even false narratives about Islam. This is a problem. Usul solves the problems of credibility, reliability, and AI-powered access to online sources that—prior to now—have impeded researchers' ability to explore complex questions related to Islamic law, history, and more. Researchers and data engineers joined forces to create an online platform that enables advanced searches on a curated, closed, and credible collection of Islamic sources, powered by AI.