Digital Means of Proof and Their Legal Validity in Sharia (A Comparative Jurisprudential Study)

Abstract

The rapid developments witnessed in the modern era across various technological and scientific fields have led to a shift from the conventional world to the digital realm of data stored within information systems. This transformation has emerged as an alternative to paper-based records and traditional files, resulting in the emergence of new types and forms of evidence and methods of proof: digital evidence.

The ultimate objective of Islamic Sharia is that every individual exercises his rights while preserving the rights of others. For this reason, the Noble Sharia encouraged the writing of contracts, the documentation of debts, and the establishment of testimony, as a safeguard against denial and dispute. However, in the present era, methods of proof have changed, and most of them have now become digital in nature.

Among these digital methods is blockchain technology. Smart contracts, financial transactions, the transfer of ownership assets, and other processes are now carried out with a high degree of security, ease, and efficiency within just a few minutes through an automated and encrypted mechanism enabled by blockchain.

Also, these developments are verification through facial recognition, which has been adopted in a number of international airports, like King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These electronic gates possess the capacity to authenticate the identity of the traveler in a single procedural stage, by scanning both the passport and the facial image. This mechanism facilitates the acceleration of procedures and enhances the efficiency of operational processes within airports, while dispensing with the need for direct human intervention in verifying entry or exit, and replacing the traditional entry- and exit-stamp system. Such systems represent one of several emerging digital methods of proof.                        

Accordingly, a central question arises: Do these digital methods possess independent probative force (ḥujjiyyah) in establishing rights, or are they merely circumstantial indicators (qarā’in) that require supporting evidence to reinforce and corroborate them? From this inquiry, the present study emerges, seeking to examine digital means of proof and to assess the extent of their legal-jurisprudential validity within Islamic law.