Adnan`s Crazy Blogging World

We are living in a digital age where every day we hear about some new application which targets to sort out issues related to humans. Softwares ,web applications specifically are getting smarter day by day. Many of them are successful due to constant involvement of their users one way or other.

Suppose you are willing to buy a book and you visit Amazon.com. For instance if you search for recipe books about Italian cuisines, you would come across sections where Amazon itself will be recommending you books which pertain your query. You select a book and you wish to go thru reviews by the people who have already bought that particular, just like you ask opinion of your family pals when buying some stuff from a shop. You form an opinion after reading those reviews that whether you should go for the book or not. A typical Amazon’s product review section is given below:

Next time you visit Amazon, it would be recommending you further items based on your past history or your your inclination towards the type of items you are looking for. For instance Amazon recommends me following books based on my previous history.

Google has recently blended a social touch in searches which now would help you to find out opinions given by your friends and family members who would already have experienced the things which you are willing to do in future.  Obviously you would count your friends’opinion more than strangers hence it would make your life easier and pleasant.

The examples I mentioned above are few of many examples of Collective Intelligence which is a part of text-mining which itself is a branch of Artificial Intelligence(AI). According to Wikipedia,Collective Intelligence(CI) could be defined as, a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals.

Opinions formed  by a group could either be positive or negative. Both can help certain individuals or a community to perform certain actions based on conclusion emerged from that group. CI has been playing the vital role to make current applications smarter and helpful because applications behaviour based on how users use that application.

I got interested in the subject when I bought Programming Collective Intelligence-Building Smarter Web 2.0 application. Few years ago I was not aware how Google invaded everything and made us addicted to its products. The reason Google is successful today because it makes products and gives search results which are quite nearer to our need. Google smartly involve people who are connected with us one way or other. Though the book has been written for Python users but Toby has explained algos in such a simple language that every programmer could implement those algos.

When I read the book and got an inside about CI, it suddenly made me think that how Islam had given the concept of e Collectivintelligence 1500 years ago when Islam asked Ummah to promote the concept of Shura at every level. What’s Shura? In simple words Shura is all about seeking consultation on different matters. In quran Allah encourages the concept of Shura in these words:

And those who answer the Call of their Lord [i.e. to believe that He is the only One Lord (Allah), and to worship none but Him Alone], and perform As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and who (conduct) their affairs by mutual consultation, and who spend of what We have bestowed on them; (42:38). Prophet(saw) was also used to consult His companions and others. Beiqhi(RA) writes:

‘’Certainly Allah and His Messenger did not stand in need of the advice of anybody, but
God has made it (the seeking of advice) a source of mercy for men. Those who hold
consultation will not stray away from the path of rectitude, while those who do not are
liable to do so.’’

As you can see how Islam has given the concept of Shura or Collective Intelligence several centuries ago.Why Shura is needed? It’s because we often save ourself from any kind of  misery or wrong decision after knowing the opinions of others. This is why those families rarely fail to conclude something wrong where concept of Shura is properly implemented.

Now when I read different algorithms to implement CI in web applications, I’m forced to believe that Islam is quite a logical religion which encourages several things which modern world is implementing today. What West discovered today,it could be discovered several years back by Muslims if they would have paid attention on Quran and Education itself. But alas, either we don’t read Quran or if we ever read Quran, we don’t ponder on things mentioned by Allah.  In future we will be happily embracing the concept of Shura implemented by the technology and would even praise about it but would not think about it how Quran and our Islam already revealed this technolgy several years ago.  May Allah guide us.Ameen