In the United Arab Emirates, 64 per cent of consumers now say they would trust an AI shopping assistant more than their own family to make purchasing decisions, according to research by Checkout.com and Visa. The same study found that 71 per cent would permit an assistant to switch brands for a better deal, and 62 per cent would let it buy items without disclosing they were using AI. The figures mark a measurable shift in consumer behaviour in one of the Gulf’s most digitally advanced markets, where AI is moving from recommendation engines to delegated purchasing.

The rapid delegation of economic choices to algorithms is unfolding in parallel with a debate across Muslim-majority countries over whether such systems can satisfy the requirements of Islamic economic law. Indonesian central bank officials, speaking at a sharia economy festival in West Java, noted that the halal value chain already contributes 27.34 per cent of national GDP, and that global Muslim consumer spending is projected to reach $3.56 trillion by 2029. Yet the same officials cautioned that literacy in Islamic economics stands at just 50.18 per cent, leaving many consumers ill-equipped to assess whether AI-driven transactions introduce gharar—prohibited uncertainty—through opaque decision-making or biased data.

In Nigeria, Islamic scholar Dr Muhammad Salah urged Muslims to embrace AI for education and da’wah, but only through verified applications, warning that unvetted tools could misrepresent religious teachings. His volunteer-run platform, which has recorded over 41,000 converts from 86 countries in five years, is now integrating AI to automate follow-up education. Meanwhile, Indonesian legal analysts point out that AI systems used for credit scoring or fraud detection in Islamic banks often function as black boxes, potentially creating a new form of gharar by concealing the reasoning behind decisions that affect access to financing. The Visa study in the UAE adds a further dimension: 80 per cent of parents believe children struggle to recognise online scams, and one-third say their children already have access to mobile payment apps, raising concerns about AI-driven purchases by minors.

The West Java Sharia Economic Festival, which opened this week and drew 3,000 attendees to its opening religious gathering, is serving as a platform for regulators, scholars and fintech firms to discuss standards for AI in Islamic finance. Bank Indonesia has called for more inclusive literacy campaigns, while the Checkout.com report notes that 17 per cent of UAE consumers already expect payment providers to bear responsibility for AI shopping errors—a sign that liability frameworks have yet to catch up with adoption. The next milestone will be whether the festival’s forums produce concrete guidelines for human-in-the-loop requirements in sharia-compliant AI systems.