What is it about?
Fake news and hate speech spread rapidly through social media in Pakistan, causing real harm to individuals, communities, and social trust. This paper asks whether the Qur'an — a text that millions of Pakistanis regard as a guide for all aspects of life — has something practical and specific to offer in response to this modern problem. The answer the paper finds is yes. The Qur'an contains a principle called tabayyun, which means carefully verifying information before acting on it or passing it on, especially when doing so could harm someone. By examining Qur'anic teachings on truthful speech, avoiding suspicion, protecting people's reputations, and maintaining social harmony, the paper builds a practical ethical framework for responsible digital behavior. It also proposes a concrete set of guidelines — a tabayyun protocol — for how individuals, religious leaders, and policymakers in Pakistan can use these principles to push back against the spread of harmful online content.
Featured Image
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Misinformation and hate speech are global problems, but they take on particular urgency in Pakistan, where social media platforms have been linked to incitement, sectarian tension, reputational attacks, and even violence. Most existing responses to these problems draw on Western liberal frameworks of free speech, platform regulation, or media literacy. What this paper offers is something different and potentially more effective in the Pakistani context: an ethical framework rooted in the Qur'an itself, one that speaks directly to the values and religious commitments of the population it is trying to reach. What makes this paper distinctive is its combination of careful Qur'anic textual analysis with real cases of online misinformation and hate speech from Pakistan. It does not treat Islamic ethics as abstract or historical but as practically applicable to the digital age. The proposed tabayyun protocol gives individuals a clear ethical standard for sharing information online, while the paper's recommendations for mosque sermons, media literacy education, and regulatory policy make it relevant to a wide range of actors. Scholars of Islamic ethics, digital media, communication studies, and South Asian politics, as well as policymakers and religious educators, will find this paper both timely and practically useful.
Perspectives
I wrote this paper because I kept seeing a troubling gap between what the Qur'an actually teaches about communication and how many Muslims in Pakistan — and elsewhere — behave online. The principle of tabayyun is not obscure or difficult to find. It is stated clearly in the Qur'an, and it carries a direct and unambiguous message: before you share something that could harm another person, verify it. Do not spread what you have not checked. Do not damage someone's reputation on the basis of rumor or suspicion. These are not complicated instructions, but they are being ignored on a massive scale every day. What I hope readers take from this paper is that Islamic ethics already contains the resources needed to address the misinformation crisis — resources that are culturally grounded, religiously authoritative, and practically applicable. We do not need to wait for platform algorithms or government regulation alone. Religious leaders, educators, and ordinary individuals can make a real difference by taking tabayyun seriously as a daily practice. I hope this paper contributes, in however small a way, to making that conversation more visible and more urgent — because the harm caused by fake news and hate speech is not abstract. It falls on real people, and it demands a real and honest response.
Dr. Jamil Akhtar
University of the Punjab
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tabayyun and Qurʾānic Digital Ethics against Misinformation and Hate Speech in Pakistan, Riphah Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, June 2026, Department of Islamic Studies, Riphah International University, Islamabad,
DOI: 10.64768/rjitc.v4i1.2955.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
