FITNA 2.0: Theorizing the Ontological and Theological Challenges of Generative AI Deepfakes in Shaping Islamic Political Discourse During the 2026 Iran War

Abstract

Much of the current political debate in Islam is experiencing an unprecedented epistemic crisis due to the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, especially the large language model (LLM) and generative adversarial network (GAN) which can create hyper-realistic synthetic audio, video, and text. This paper reviews this crisis examining the 2026 Iran War – possibly the first large-scale geopolitical war where AI created deepfakes are being intentionally leveraged as tools of hybrid information warfare against Muslim religious and political communities around the world. Theoretically, the phenomenon is addressed within the Islamic legal-ethical framework of Fitna (civil strife, social discord) in response to the three intersecting theoretical approaches (Islamic epistemology, the concepts of 'ilm, tawatur and isnad; classical political theological notions of wilayat al-faqih, bay'ah, and legitimacy frameworks; literature of computer science on SYNTHETIC MEDIA and ALGORITHMIC BIAS). We suggest that with the advent of AI deep-fakes, there has emerged a new type of Fitna—“Fitna 2.0”—it is a technologic epistemic animosity that simultaneously challenges the reliability of religious knowledge, the legitimacy of religious authority, and the unity of the digital ummah. This paper examines the systematic analysis of deepfake threat vectors, ethical evaluation of the deepfakes under the Islamic concept of maqasid al-Shari'ah (the five essential objectives of Islamic law), and the political implications (from a narrative viewpoint, sectarianism and resistance formations in online Muslim communities) for a normative Islamic response architecture. This is achieved through the establishment of an Islamic AI ethics charter, the methodological innovation of “digital ijtihad” (the new way of thinking in jurisprudence related to AI's governance), and the development of certified Islamic digital media infrastructure. This paper aims to build on the growing studies on the core issue of Islamic studies, political theology and AI ethics and is of relevance in Muslim majority countries, Muslim diaspora communities and international organizations including OIC countries involved in the governance of AI.