1. Lecture 4: Decision Making in Islam Professional Responsibility

2. Decision making in Islam
Ijmah
Ijmah is an Arabic term referring to the consensus or agreement of the Muslim community
two kinds of consensus are:
ijma al-ummah - a whole community consensus.
ijma al-aimmah - a consensus by religious authorities.
E.g. consensus on Islamic banking,

3. Decision making in Islam (contd.)
Qiyas
Qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply
known injunction (command) to a new circumstance and create a new injunction.
Here the ruling of the Sunnah and the Qur'an may be used as a means
to solve or provide a response to a new problem that may arise.
E.g. Is chatting allowed in Islam?
Discussion: Inductive vs. deductive reasoning

4. Decision making in Islam (contd.)
Ijtihad
Ijtihad is the making of a decision in Islamic law (sharia) by personal effort, independently of any school (madhhab) of jurisprudence (fiqh)
Mujtahid  is an Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret sharia by ijtihad
Following conditions are defined for ijtehad
Knowledge of the Quran
Knowledge of the ahadith of the Blessed Prophet
Knowledge of the sayings of the Salaf-us-Salaheen; that is to know which rulings they disagreed and upon which they were unanimous.
Knowledge of Arabic linguistics
Knowledge of Qiyas, the knowledge by which one learns the method of deriving a ruling from the Quran and Sunnah.

5. Decision making in Islam (contd.)
The following points are presented in order to clarify the purpose of ijtihad:
God is all-powerful, all-knowing.
God created laws for humankind and only God has the authority to do so.
God appointed messengers to convey the laws to humankind.
God appointed imams to guide humankind about the laws.
At present, neither the Prophet (S.W), nor the imams are accessible.
Therefore, qualified jurists have the duty to find God's law, not create God's laws.
Therefore, ijtihad is the process of finding God's law from the Qur'an and the hadith using specific methods.
E.g. defining policies/rules for an interest free Islamic Banking system in the light of Quran o Sunnah

6. E.g. defining policies/rules for an interest free Islamic Banking system in the light of Quran o Sunnah

7. General guidelines for ethical decision making
Professional standard analysis – IEEE/ACM
Roles & responsibilities analysis
Stakeholder analysis
Systemic policy analysis – local/international laws
Ethical theory analysis – better ethical understanding of situation

8. Professional Responsibility
Computer professional (C.P)
People who design, build, program & service computerized devices, as well as who plan & manage such activities
Enormous power to affect world in good, bad way,
E.g. programs to control airplanes, nuclear power plant, medical devices,

9. Professional Responsibility
Computer Practitioners – people who design, build, program computerized devices, as well as who plan & manage such activities
Affect the world in good or bad way
E.g. computer programs to control airplanes, nuclear power plants, medical devices, space stations
Since lives of many people depends on such programs C.P should make ethically & professionally sound judgments & decisions.

10. What does it mean to be a professional?
Mastering an extensive body of knowledge & skills
Providing an important service
Exercising monopolistic control over relevant services to society -- license or certificate to practice
Accepting a code of professional conduct

11. Professional Context
The complex context in which a computer professional normally functions include a variety of roles
Roles carry related ethical responsibilities & obligations
Employer to employee
Professional to professional
Professional to client
Professional to user
Professional to society

12. Employer to Employee
Relationship between an employer & employee is contractual one
Employee agrees to carry out assigned jobs
Employer agrees to pay compensation
Employer responsibility to provide safe env. Tools & also avoid asking employee to do anything illegal
Employee’s responsibility is to be loyal, honest his/her qualification or experience, do not reveal trade secrets

13. Professional to Professional
Team members
Share work & cooperate
Provide helpful advice & assistance

14. Professional to client
Computer professionals have clients
people or organizations with whom they have contracted to provide a computer related product or service
Nature of responsibility depends on how professional to client relationship is defined

15. Professional to client (contd.)
Agency;
Clients make all significant decisions & the C.P merely carries out those decisions
Shortcoming: special knowledge of professional is not effectively used
Paternalistic
Professional makes all the decision and client is treated like a child
Fiduciary
Responsibility is shared for making important decisions
Trust is essential

16. Professional to user
C.P often creates h.w or s.w intended for use by a range of people
E.g. airplane manufacturer may hire a s.w firm for developing a s.w package, the s.w will affect a diverse user community, crew, passengers etc.
C.P must accept job only if s/he is competent enough.

17. Professional to Society
Work of C.P can easily impact millions of people
Safety of people depends on reliable function of s.w package
Computer technology has rapidly incorporated into every field from medial, to banks to education to communication, defense, industry
Contract: society grants rights to practice profession, C.P agrees to practice in a manner to benefit society
Environmentalist view