Beyond Chatbots:

Islamic Epistemology, Human Agency, and Ethical Responsibility in AI-Mediated English Language Education

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping English language education, but the apparent sophistication of AI-assisted texts complicates judgments about knowledge, learning, and responsibility. Existing scholarship addresses AI literacy, autonomy, and integrity; the more precise unresolved question examined here is how linguistic performance, epistemic justification, and accountable authorship relate when learners accept and communicate AI-generated claims. Drawing on an integrative, non-systematic review of English language education and Islamic epistemology literature, this study uses critical conceptual analysis to compare language-education scholarship with selected Islamic epistemological concepts. Five analytical findings concern fluent yet unjustified claims, task-dependent cognitive delegation, morally significant verification, unequal cultural representation, and the evidential limits of finished assignments. The contribution is an argument that ?ilm, adab, amanah, and sidq deepen the normative interpretation of verification and authorship without replacing established AI ethics. The conclusions are conceptual, not empirically validated.