Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 14 (11): 1548-1554, 2013 ISSN 1990-9233

IDOSI Publications, 2013

DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.14.11.2035

Application of Privacy, Security and Ethics in Islamic Concerned

ICT
Mohamad Fauzan Noordin

(Article Review)

The article draws attention to the importance of security, privacy and to apply ethics
while using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our modern and
moral society from an Islamic perspective and that the computer ethics, security and
privacy in western societies have been mentioned long ago in the holy Quran; in
particular the author refers to the issues of the unauthenticated uses of ICT
applications and the impact of Islamic ethics in the ethical issue in Muslims society.
The first part of the article mainly focuses on the ways of communication between
human and another one and the relationship between a human and Allah as well the
(ICT) is a communication tool used for decision-making and if people used that tool
wisely it will helps people to improve the relationship between them and Allah for
example theres an application to remind people of prayers time and another
application allow people to read the holy Quran. Also. It improves the relationship
among people and helps on kinship for example therere many applications that help
people to contact with their relatives through this kind of applications but there must
be ethics in ICT like God consciousness, truthfulness and trustworthiness.
The author illustrates the two major responsibilities for humans on this earth that has
giving to them by Allah, which are Abdillah and Khalifah (vicegerent). Vicegerent
means that all people are representatives of Allah on the earth and as representatives
of Allah people have to be responsible about their actions. Thus, in using ICT tools,
it can be used to develop and enhance peoples role as Abdillah and Khalifah like
the development of a system to identify the direction of Qiblah.

The author highlights the development of Islamic science through centuries and how
Muslims scientists were able to do their mission to create a moral social order, and
that the ICT experts now should following the footsteps of Muslims scientists on
cryptography, security and its devices and even with this development ICT experts
should keep on the same mission, principle and ICT Islamic ethics.
The author appeals to the guiding principles in ICT from the Islamic perspective.
The guiding principles in ICT should stand on Islamic philosophy, which is from alQuran and as-Sunnah. The ICT principles are divided into three divisions: ethics,
security and privacy. The holy Quran carries the absolute information and
knowledge and it is the source of guidance for people to good behave as Allah
vicegerent and to survive in this world. It introduces everything related to human
life including biology, ICT, laws, social, politics, business, and economics. Muslims
society needs ICT to develop their society and increase the number of achievements
to compete the western and reach the same level of prosperity and Muslims can use
ICT tools for many Islamic purposes like research collaborations through the Web
and broadcasting of news.
The author focuses on the three elements ethics, security and privacy from the
Islamic perspective. First, Ethics can be defined as the study of the wrong and write
behavior that lead people to the moral values. Ethics must be the center in Muslims
life based on Prophet Muhammad be peace upon him hadith: Ive been sent to
perfect good character. (Imam Malik). Ethics application to all life aspects is
important to make wise decisions and ethics must be applied in ICT too to
distinguish between the ethical decisions and the non-ethical decisions. Ethics like
goodness, righteousness, equilibrium and justice have been mentioned in the holy
Quran and some of them must be used as the in ICT ethics for example to know
what goodness would the proposed system bring to the organization. The author
shows the similarities and the differences between the Islamic and the western
standards. The similarities are trustworthiness, honesty, equality, equity, mutual
consent, respect, sacrifice, caring, sharing and concern on legality and the
differences are God-Consciousness and sincerity. ICT tools can be used to worship

Allah Alone like using technology to pay zakat through a short SMS. The author
also shows the relationship between the Internet and morality. The Internet is like a
double-edged sword that has its positive and negative side because the information
in the Internet cannot be controlled and the choice to choose which side depends on
the users but with faith and piety the users would use it wisely. Islam has given
everyone their freedom but people should use that right in an ethical way even
through the Internet and they have to remember that they are responsible about their
freedom and actions in real life and in the media.
The second element is privacy and it plays an essential role in the cyber world
because anyone can use other personal information for bad intention. Crimes can be
committed in the cyber world as well like using people personal data to commit
identify theft. Also personal data can be used to embarrass others by revealing
records of their medical treatment. Islam respects peoples privacy based on what
Allah says in Surah An-Nur verse 27: O ye who believe! Enter not houses other
than your own, until you have asked permission and saluted those in them and the
presence of privacy gives a good impact in the Muslims society. Nowadays, the
development of technology has increased and the Internet era has became wider and
it carries each individual data and personal information and because of that growth
in technology and Internet the general publics view of privacy and the issues of
protection of personal information were affected. The government has each citizen
details like their date of birth, marriage and criminal record, which made an issue
between the government and citizens. Islam has guided people to handle and respect
each other privacy in public and social life.
The author draws attention to the usage of E-mails and Internet in the organizations.
The organizations provide their employees with E-mails to make the process of
communication easier inside and outside the workplace. Employees may use their Emails in external activities that are not related to the workplace and the organization
may track these E-mails but notice must be given. The employees must be aware
about any tracking for their information in order to protect their privacy. The author
mentions spamming which is an ethical trend in email activities. Spamming is the e-

mail generated by systems done by companies to promote their products.

The author sees that the intellectual property of others like multimedia, articles and
pictures should be respected. Intellectual properties are hard to be protected because
it is easy to copy others articles without acknowledging or download music without
paying. Islam forbids copying others work without their permission and encourage
the use of intellect and allows receiving money for teaching people.
Security is the third element that was mentioned in this article and from the Islamic
perspective security is about how people protect themselves from their enemies.
Firewall is one of the most important technology in IT security and it is used to
protect users from internal and external attacks. Muslims should protect their
computer systems to avoid any damage in security. Allah explains in the holy Quran
how he uses light to prevent satins from sniffing information or knowledge from the
heavens.

In conclusion, from my point of view I see that the author has focused on
three elements, which are Ethics, privacy and security and he has provided the
article with examples of application of privacy, security and ethics and has
supported the article with verses from the holy Quran. He has defined each
element generally and the effects of using these elements either in positive or
negative way. The author has explained each element from the Islamic
perspective as well. There was no doubts in the article and everything was
clear.