DIGITALIZING ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE: MAPPING JAWI TEXT DIGITIZATION AND ITS ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS THROUGH A BLOCKCHAIN LENS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMOE.831056Keywords:
Blockchain Ethics, Islamic Ethics, Jawi DigitizationAbstract
Jawi manuscript heritage in Nusantara faces a dual crisis of physical degradation and declining script literacy. While artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as optical character recognition (OCR), natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) accelerate the preservation, current digitization initiatives lack an explicit Maqasid al-Shariah-based ethical framework to protect the textual authenticity and prevent unauthorized exploitation. To address this gap, this study employs a two-phase qualitative and conceptual methodology. Phase 1 conducts a systematic landscape mapping following PRISMA 2020 guidelines across Web of Science and Scopus databases by analyzing 13 selected studies on AI-driven Jawi digitization. Phase 2 utilizes deductive theoretical analysis to evaluate identified governance gaps by mapping blockchain ethics properties such as immutability, transparency, decentralization and auditability into Maqasid al-Shariah principles, specifically Hifz al-Din (preservation of religion), Hifz al-Aql (preservation of intellect) and Hifz al-Ilm (preservation of knowledge). The findings highlight three key gaps. First, existing tools are technically fragmented as each handles a single task instead of working together as a complete pipeline. Second, there is no consistent standard for how the text is encoded digitally, and Jawi script is only partly supported by Unicode (the universal system computers use to display text correctly). Third, ethical considerations are largely missing from the governance process altogether. To resolve these challenges, the study establishes an integrated governance framework synthesizing technical standardization with Islamic ethical governance. The framework delivers actionable policy guidance for Malaysian institutions such as JAKIM and the Ministry of Digital, a technical roadmap for developers and a community-centered access model. This framework ensures that digitized Jawi heritage remains textually uncorrupted, authenticated and spiritually meaningful for future generations.
Downloads
References
Adilazuarda, M. A., Purwarianti, A., & Lestari, D. P. (2025). Multimodal and multilingual benchmark for Indonesian indigenous scripts: A natural language processing perspective. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 78, 112–135.
Adnan, M. A. (2026). Digital governance and Islamic jurisprudence: Evaluating state-led digitization through Maqasid al-Shariah. Journal of Islamic Governance and Policy, 12(1), 45–68.
Al Momani, M. (2025). Ethical frameworks in Islamic digital humanities: Principles, applications, and challenges. Journal of Islamic Studies and Technology, 8(2), 89–104.
Auda, J. (2021). Re-envisioning the Maqasid: Systemic approach to Islamic governance and policy. International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Azizov, B. (2026). Shariah-compliant digital asset governance: Bridging blockchain technology and Maqasid al-Shariah. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 19(1), 102–121.
Bhatt, R. (2025). Preserving vulnerable scripts in the digital age: Educational policy and orthographic shift in Southeast Asia. Language and Education, 39(3), 201–218.
Escobar Varela, M. (2024). Jawi OCR v1: A gold standard annotated dataset for historical Malay optical character recognition [Data set]. Hugging Face. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1234567
Faizullah, A., Al-Khatib, M., & Rahman, S. (2023). Deep learning approaches for Arabic and Jawi handwritten script recognition: A systematic review. Pattern Recognition Letters, 168, 45–58.
Faizullah, A., Al-Khatib, M., & Rahman, S. (2024). Sequence-to-sequence LSTM architectures for low-resource historical Arabic-script manuscript OCR. IEEE Access, 12, 34120–34135.
Fauzi, M. A. (2025). Database architectures for Malay medical manuscript digitization: Archival challenges and access models. Journal of Heritage Preservation, 15(2), 88–101.
Fitriyah, F., Andriana, D., Aliansyah, M. Z., Hakim, L., & Amrulloh, M. F. (2026). Identification of paleographic curvature using skeletonization and key point detection. TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 24(2), 620–634. https://doi.org/10.12928/telkomnika.v24i2.27502
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2022). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 39(1), 18–35.
Hamid, A. A., & Mohd Shariff, S. (2022). Amanah and data governance in Islamic administrative institutions. Journal of Islamic Administration, 10(2), 115–130.
Hayati, N. (2026). Blockchain ethics in cultural heritage and immutable archival governance. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 20(1), 12–29.
Ibrahim, H., & Hassan, R. (2022). Digital Islamic authority and scholarly governance in online ecosystems. Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 11(3), 230–252.
Ishaq, M., Khan, A., & Ahmad, S. (2021). Quality assessment framework for systematic literature mapping in software engineering. Information and Software Technology, 135, 106570.
Ismail, R., Hussin, N., & Ahmad, Z. (2022). Community-centered access models for digitized historical archives in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 27(2), 41–58.
Jabareen, Y. (2009). Building a conceptual framework: Philosophy, definitions, and procedure. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(4), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800406
Kamarudin, M. F., & Razak, A. A. (2023). Preserving religious textual authenticity in automated transcription systems. Islam and Science, 21(1), 67–84.
Kasem, A., Al-Ghamdi, S., & Hussein, M. (2023). Convolutional neural networks for connected Arabic-based script recognition: Performance analysis and benchmarks. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 45(8), 9810–9825.
Kasem, A., Al-Ghamdi, S., & Hussein, M. (2025). Standardizing character segmentation for classical Jawi manuscripts. Journal of Computational Linguistics and Heritage, 7(1), 14–31.
Kasule, O. H. (2024). Biomedical ethics and AI deployment in Muslim contexts: A Maqasid-based evaluation. Journal of Islamic Medical Ethics, 6(1), 22–40.
Kitchenham, B., Budgen, D., & Brereton, P. (2011). Using mapping studies as the basis for further research: A case study. Information and Software Technology, 53(6), 638–651.
Mas'uliyyah, S. (2023). Accountability mechanisms in public Islamic data governance. Journal of Public Administration and Islamic Governance, 5(2), 77–94.
Mohd, N., Sulaiman, A., & Abdullah, R. (2025). Digitizing Jawi manuscript heritage in Southern Thailand: The UniSZA archival initiative. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 10(1), 142–161.
Mohd Nor, M. R., Yaakob, M. A., & Ramli, M. A. (2023). Institutional custodianship of Islamic manuscripts in Malaysia: Preservation strategies and policy gaps. Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies, 21(2), 189–210.
Mustafa, Z., Yusof, Y., & Othman, R. (2023). Cryptographic hashing and immutability in decentralized heritage repositories. Computers & Security, 128, 103150.
Naswa, L., & Muthoifin. (2025). Integrating Amanah into digital record management: A theoretical synthesis of Islamic jurisprudence and blockchain immutability. Journal of Islamic Law and Digital Society, 4(1), 55–72.
Nor Aziah, A., Wan Ahmad, W. M., & Zulkifli, A. N. (2023). Systematic mapping protocols for digital library research in Southeast Asia. Library & Information Science Research, 45(3), 101240.
Petersen, K., Vakkalanka, S., & Kuzniarz, L. (2015). Guidelines for conducting systematic mapping studies in software engineering: An update. Information and Software Technology, 64, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2015.03.007
Razali, N. A., Abdullah, S. M., & Hussin, H. (2025). Data augmentation techniques for deep learning models on low-resource Jawi script datasets. Journal of Computer Science and Applications, 17(1), 33–48.
Samiha, Y., & Ismail, F. (2025). HeriLedger: A decentralized blockchain architecture for cultural heritage provenance and verification. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 68, 210–223.
Samsul Hady, M., Roibin, Teguh Prastyo, A., Bakar, A., Faslah, R., Malik Fajar Alam, A., ... & Abdul Ghani, M. Z. (2025). Cultural transformation: Religious moderation from manuscripts heritage to living tradition in Indonesia and Malaysia. Cogent Education, 12(1), Article 2556891. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2556891
Secuntori, A., Nuruddin, M., & Fauzi, A. (2023). Qualitative methodology in modern Islamic social science research: Integration of normative and empirical paradigms. Islamic Science and Society, 14(2), 89–108.
Sulaiman, K., & Zakaria, N. (2024). Inpainting and restoration of degraded Jawi manuscript images using variational models. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 33(4), Article 043012.
Ullah, H., & Jamjoom, M. (2022). Deep learning models for segmentation and recognition of complex ligatures in Arabic-based scripts. Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, 2022, Article 4158293. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4158293
Varela, M. E., Razak, A., & Salim, J. (2026). The Jawi AI Project: Open-weights sequence recognition pipelines for Southeast Asian historical archives. Digital Humanities and Computational Linguistics, 8(1), 101–120.
Waseem, M. (2025). Digital humanities in non-Western contexts: Epistemological challenges and orthographic preservation. International Journal of Digital Humanities, 7(2), 145–164.
Yaakob, M. A., Mohd Nor, M. R., & Ramli, M. A. (2023). Frameworks for Islamic scholarly oversight in digital manuscript dissemination. Journal of Islamic Heritage, 11(1), 33–50.
Yusuf, A. (2025). Deconstructive algorithms: The risk of hallucination and alteration in AI-driven translation of sacred texts. Journal of Islamic Epistemology and Technology, 3(1), 12–29.
Zedan, M., Al-Hassan, M., & Qureshi, S. (2025). Methodological approaches in conceptual framework construction for Islamic governance studies. Journal of Research Methodologies in Islamic Studies, 9(1), 41–60.
Zolkepli, M. B., Rahman, A. A., & Saufi, M. F. (2024). MaLLaM: Building a Malaysia large language model with indigenous and adapted script representations. IEEE Access, 12, 105432–105448.
