Computer ethics for the computer professional from an Islamic point of view

The Authors

Mansoor Al-A'ali, Department of Computer Science, College of Information Technology, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the ethical behaviour of Muslim IT professionals in an attempt to stop many unethical practices such as software piracy, software intellectual property violations and general software development.

Design/methodology/approach – This study examines the computer ethical principles presented in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) code of conduct from an Islamic point of view through studying some relevant verses of The Holy Quran and Hadiths of Prophet Mohammed. An evaluation of the benefits of this newly proposed Islamic computer code of ethics is presented by surveying how IT students, IT professionals and software house owners would adhere to it. The evaluation was carried out by teaching different groups of participants aspects of the ACM code of conduct and the proposed Islamic computer ethics code and then surveying their opinions by a questionnaire.

Findings – The study demonstrates that teaching computer ethics in general, and computer ethics from an Islamic point of view in particular, clearly contributes to ethical behaviour of Muslim IT professionals with regards to software development issues.

Research limitations/implications – It is not possible to put participants through real life scenarios and practically observe how they would react to different ethical situations. The empirical research thus relies on what participants said they would do.

Practical implications – The newly developed Islamic code of computer ethics and its proposed implementation method can be utilised by organisations for their benefit.

Originality/value – The study is the first to address the issue of computer ethics and Islam for IT professionals. This paper presents a first Islamic computer code of ethics and presents a methodology for applying it. It also reports a study undertaken in Bahrain of how attitudes might be influenced by teaching computer ethics in general, and computer ethics from an Islamic point of view in particular.

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s):

Ethics; Islam; Computers; Business ethics.

Journal:

Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society

Volume:

6

Number:

1

Year:

2008

pp:

28-45

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

1477-996X

1 Introduction

Islam is supposed to be a complete way of life. A Muslim is bound by Islamic rules and hence is obliged to follow the instructions as prescribed in the Quran and Hadiths. Islam is a religion based upon the surrender to God (Allah). The very name of the religion, al-Islam in Arabic, means submission and peace, for it is in submitting to God's will that human beings gain peace in their lives in this world and in the hereafter.

Islam is considered to be a comprehensive religion and its ethical system is considered to be one of the major ethical systems. Owing to the importance of establishing an ethical system in the field of IT, especially at our present time which is witnessing an ever increasing ethical problems, several specialist organizations have prepared codes of ethics to be complied with by members of those organizations. This is what the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have done in accordance with the rules, systems and opinions of experts of those organizations.

In the last two decades, information technology has been reshaping how the world communicates. Evidence of the eagerness on the part of some Muslims to embrace such technology includes the proliferation of Islamic sites on the internet, some of which are devoted to Islamic education and propagation, while others are more of a commercial or entertainment nature.

It is good to note that the issue of ethics in relation to technology was not totally disregarded by Islamic countries. The Islamic Body on Ethics of Science and Technology was created by virtue of the Recommendations of the First Islamic Conference of Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific and Research which was held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 15-18 October 2000, which aimed for the establishment of the Islamic Body on Ethics of Science and Technology; and also the recommendations of the meeting of the experts' committee for the preparation of a document on the establishment of the Islamic Body on Ethics of Science and Technology (Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, 14-15 July 2003). The Islamic Body on Ethics of Science and Technology identified six objectives. The two objectives of concern to us here could be:

  1. Directing Muslim public opinion to the ethical aspects of some very important and crucial issues from the perspective of the Islamic Sharia.
  2. Urging educational institutions to introduce ethics in their teaching curricula, as part and parcel of the educational and training programmes of basic and higher education, with a view to enabling young scientists to further scientific research, while observing ethical norms and principles.

However, we could not trace any studies conducted in the direction of the relationship between information technology and ethics in Islamic countries.

Computer ethics has emerged as one of the major issues in information technology. Ethics encourage individuals to think through their attitudes and beliefs and thus be able to decide in advance whether their opinions are appropriate or not, and once this is decided, individuals should then be prepared to accept full responsibility for their actions (Langford, 1995). Computer ethics can be defined as a category of professional ethics similar to medical, legal, teaching and accounting ethics (Baase, 2003).

Computer ethics is a complex field to address because it is not based on solid rules which can be monitored. Instead it is an individual's behaviour which on the whole can be either secretive or undisclosed and cannot be measured. Computer ethics is based on facts, conceptualisations, policies and values related to constantly changing computer technology and people's attitudes. As Adam (2001) puts it, the spectrum covered by computer ethics studies can be characterized as:

In recent years, many studies have investigated the responsibility and ethical codes of IT users amidst the evolving nature of IT applications (Phukan and Dhillon, 2000). For what to do and what not to do in computer ethics, one should read volumes of philosophical literature and relate it to everyday activities. A good way to put it is “computer ethics is not a fixed set of rules which one shellacs and hangs on the wall” (Moor, 1985). Working with computers without gaining an understanding and appreciation of ethics is like sailing without a compass. Computer professionals play a role in determining how computers affect social life and interaction and therefore should be equipped with the knowledge of appropriate computer behaviour (Namlu and Odabasi, 2007).

A new ethical theory “flourishing ethics” has begun to coalesce from the works of several scholars in the international computer ethics community. Rather than replacing traditional “great ethical theories” flourishing ethics is likely to deepen and broaden our understanding (Bynum, 2006).

The main issues which can be attributed to ethics in relation to information technology can be tied down to hacking, privacy, software piracy and IT personnel work ethics. By taking a closer look, we begin to realise that ethics and information technology involve more issues which on the whole are just as serious. Amongst these other issues are:

The codes of ethics of computer professional societies, such as IEEE and ACM, bring to the attention of computer professionals and users of computers the idea that behaviour is at the core of the reputation of the computer professional. Owing to the range of available information and communication technologies, computer ethics attends to the theories of morality that can be applied to such behaviours (Adam, 2001). Moor's (1985) much quoted paper, “What is computer ethics?” argued for the elaboration of a new computer ethics in the face of novel choices about the use of computers and a vacuum of policies surrounding those choices.

Society in general is at risk of identity theft, deception, and inaccuracy of data. Given these concerns, it is important to understand what might affect an individual's ethical behaviour and how peers influence ethical intentions when using information technology (Prior et al., 2002). Computing professionals may feel that computer ethics is too distant from their daily practice. Computer professionals are employees and do not own the software they work on and bear no responsibility for the potential risks which could result from the use or abuse of the software. Cost-benefit analysis, for example, is part of the repertoire of corporate life. Issues such as software support, documentation, security, training, development techniques, secrecy and privacy, piracy, and software efficiency are part of the computer designers and developers concerns but may not be seen as ethical issues. We need to clarify the link for the computer professional between the ethical issues and the technical issues. The computer professional is the cornerstone of the relationship between technology and society.

The relationship between information technology ethics and Islam has received very little or no attention. The only available research published on this topic is by Zainul et al. (2004) who discusses e-commerce from an Islamic point of view. Any computer professional will be aware of one of the computer professional societies codes of conduct such as the ACM and the IEEE. These codes of conduct address most, if not all, of the important issues about ethics. However, for the Muslim IT professional, we need to investigate if they conflict with any of the Islamic teachings ethical issues.

The argument about the adoption of Quranic teaching in making the use of e-commerce a more beneficial process was discussed in Zainul et al. (2004). The Quran is a book of guidance, which contains general principles applicable to all times and places. The Quran contains principles and guidance pertaining to all spheres of lives, including the domain of IT (by analogy). In Islam, the importance of seeking both the divine and worldly knowledge is stressed. As stated in the Quran: “Read in the name of your Lord Who created” (96:1). Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

Throughout this study, the ACM code of ethics is evaluated from an Islamic viewpoint and an Islamic code of ethics for IT is also proposed for distribution and implementation in fieldwork and IT personnel dealings. Having reviewed studies in this field and having searched related web sites, we have not found any studies made on Islamic code of ethics for IT. To our knowledge, this study is the first to address IT ethics from an Islamic viewpoint. This study proposes an Islamic code of ethics for IT personnel and a method to implement it. This study also presents an evaluation of the ACM code of ethics in IT being established by ACM.

2 International societies and ethics

All leading IT professional societies have developed their own codes of conduct and ethical principles. The ACM, the Australian Computer Society, the British Computer Society, the IEEE and others have made public their codes of conduct public and insist that their members should adhere to these codes. The normal categories of the code of conduct are: the interest of society, duty to relevant authority, duty to the profession and professional competence and integrity.

ACM is a worldwide major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students. ACM has the industry's leading Portal to Computing Literature, authoritative publications and pioneering conferences, providing leadership for the twenty-first century.

An essential aim of computing professionals is to minimize the potential negative consequences of computing systems, including threats to health and safety. Quality professional work, especially in the computing profession, depends on professional reviewing. The computing professional has a responsibility to share technical knowledge with the public by encouraging the understanding of computing, including the impacts of computer systems and their limitations.

The IEEE Computer Society, with nearly 100,000 members, is the world's leading organization of computer professionals. Founded in 1946, it is the largest of the 37 societies of the IEEE. It has developed codes of ethics for various disciplines.

The ACM code contains eight principles related to the behaviour of, and decisions made by, professional software engineers; including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession. The principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organisations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships. The clauses of each principle are illustrations of some of the obligations included in these relationships. These obligations are founded in the software engineer's humanity, through the special care owed to people affected by the work.

3 ACM code of ethics from an Islamic view

In this section, we consider selected parts of the ACM code of ethics and relate them to Quranic verses and Hadiths. The aim of this comparison is to highlight the level of emphasis on the different ethical issues and how they are perceived by the ACM and the Islamic Sharia. Our objective is to find a way of presenting the ACM code of ethics to the Muslim audience in order to achieve maximum moral obligation and thus have a far reaching effect on their behaviour as IT professionals. Our main objective is not to identify a big list of Quranic verses and Hadiths. For each ethical issue, we identify one or two relevant verses and identify the different emphasis on different ethical issues by analyzing the keywords and their meaning for the individual.

3.1 General moral imperatives

As an ACM member I will …

I. Contribute to society and human well-being.

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O Do not do mischief on earth after it hath been set in order, but call on him with fear and longing (in your hearts): for the mercy of Allah is (always) near to those who do good[2].

The ACM gives a directive here to members to contribute to society and human well-being. The Quran verse warns individuals not to do mischief on earth and this goes beyond a period of work but covers all actions by the individual. This means that there is no boundary beyond which one can do mischief. The verse then goes on to declare that God is always near those who do good deeds. As an IT professional, you may well have good intentions to contribute to society and human well-being, but you could be working for a company which is corrupt and unjust; according to the Quran in this case you would be doing mischief.

II. Avoid harm to others.

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O And withhold not things justly due to men, nor do evil in the land, working mischief[4].

We have to define the concept of “harm” that can be done by an IT professional. Harm can be defined as the undesired effects to individuals or organizations resulting from any task or system developed by the IT professional. Examples of harm can be:

III. Be honest and trustworthy.

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O ye who believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are truthful[6].

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O Allah will say; This is a day on which the truthful will profit from their truth: theirs are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath, – Their eternal home: Allah well-Pleased with them, and they with Allah: that is the mighty triumph (the fulfillment of all desires)[8].

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The Prophet (saw) said: “The trader must avoid five qualities, otherwise he should not buy or sell: Usury, swearing by God that the merchandise is good, withholding the defect, commending (the commodity) when selling and belittling (it) when he is buying” (Tahtheeb al-Ahkam Ch. 7).

The two Quran verses above clearly emphasise the importance of telling the truth and how God perceives those who tell the truth and how they are rewarded. The first verse encourages people to be in the group of those who are honest and only tell the truth whilst the second verse portrays the great reward of those who were truthful on earth. The Hadith declares the five situations governing the sale and purchase of merchandise of any kind and IT products are relevantly merchandise.

IV. Be fair and take action not to discriminate.

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O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to do wrong and depart from justice. Be just, for this is close to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-Acquainted with all that ye do[10].

This verse states clearly that humans must be fair and just in all situations even if others deal in an unfair and unjust manner. The verse adds that being fair and just is closer to piety and that God is a witness to our deeds.

V. Honour property rights including copyrights and patent.

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O you who believe! Do not consume your property among yourselves unjustly unless it be a trade amongst you, by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another). Surely, Allâh is Most Merciful to you[12].

Again, both sources urge their followers to acknowledge and recognize the property of others. Both the ACM code of ethics and Islam advocate the acknowledgement of other people's property and rights, both tangible and intellectual.

VI. Give proper credit for intellectual property.

The same Quran verse used in Section (V) above applies here. There are numerous verses in Quran talking about rights and property which apply here. Intellectual property is an ownership of a product resulting from the labour of an individual. Therefore, all the rules of Islam apply for the ownership of such property.

VII. Respect the privacy of others.

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O ye who believe! avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on one another, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it… But fear Allah: for Allah is oft-Returning, most Merciful[14].

Privacy in terms of confidentiality and discretion of other peoples' matters is a requirement of both the ACM code and Islam. The Quran goes one step further in respecting the privacy of others that even suspicion is to be avoided and that some forms of suspicion are sinful. Suspicion is a form of invasion of privacy. The Quran verse goes further and sets new boundaries of privacy by ordering that we must not spy or talk about others behind their backs.

VIII. Honour confidentiality.

Confidentiality is a form of privacy and trust. The difference between confidentiality and privacy is that privacy is where the knowledge about the other party is not known, whilst confidentiality is that we know about the other party's concerns but we must not disclose this knowledge. Confidentiality requires trust and secrecy. Confidentiality and secrecy are covered in many different ways in Quran, and perhaps the story in the Quran about when the Prophet told one of his wives a secret and she disclosed it and he later informed her about her action and Quran later says that God is his (the Prophet's) support, is a big directive to Muslims not to disclose secrets and betray confidentiality. Trust is one of the words that is repeated throughout Quran. In Surah 8, verse 27, “O ye that believe! betray not the trust of Allah and the Messenger, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you.”. In Surah 23 (The Believers), verse 8, trust is portrayed as a label of true believers, “Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants”; In the Haith “whoever guards the secret of a Moslem, god will guard his secret in this life and on resurrection day” is a clear emphasis on keeping secrets and not betraying trust.

3.2 More specific professional responsibilities

As an ACM computing professional I will …

I. Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work.Fixed graphic 9

In this Hadith, the Prophet (saw) gives a directive that “God likes a person who masters his/her job or profession.”

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On the desirability of keeping up a profession, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) said: “If you profit from doing something, keep doing it” (Tahtheeb al-Ahkam Ch. 7).

II. Acquire and maintain professional competence.

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O Say: Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know” it is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition[17].

This Quranic verse raises an important question requesting people to compare between those who do not know or ignorant and those who know or have knowledge and stating that they cannot be equal in this aspect.

In the Hadith “Work for your hereafter as if you are going to die tomorrow and work for your life as if you are going to live forever” is a clear order to utilise your life to work and develop the world. In another Hadith, “Seek knowledge even if it is in China.” In yet another Hadith, “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.” Professional competency is achieved by continuously seeking and applying knowledge and therefore fits in nicely with the prophet's directives.

III. Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.

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O Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds[19].

There are countless verses and Hadiths telling a Muslim to respect Islamic and worldly laws. The Quranic verse here emphasises that an individual is responsible for their own actions.

IV. Accept and provide appropriate professional review.

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In this Hadith, the Prophet (saw) says “God likes a person who masters his/her job or profession” which gives a clear directive.

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In this Hadith, the Prophet (saw) says “The basis of religion is on giving good advice.” The same Hadith can be translated as “Religion is based on giving true advice.” This Hadith directs Muslims to do their best in giving advice to others. Advice here is not specified which compels a Muslim to provide this advice in all aspects of life including professional advice. The Hadith can be interpreted to indicate that one cannot be a good Muslim if one does not give advice to others.

The two Hadiths are directly related to the ACM directive where the Hadiths talk about mastering tasks/jobs and providing advice and the ACM is talking about providing professional review.

V. Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks.

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O stop them for they are responsible.

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This Hadith says: “Every one of you is responsible and every one of you is responsible for their flock.”

The ACM talks about comprehensive evaluations, analysis and impact whilst the Quran and the Hadith talk about responsibility for ones actions and the actions of their group/subordinates or flock.

VIII. Honour contracts, agreements and assigned responsibilities.

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O And fulfill (every) covenant. Verily, the covenant will be questioned about[24].

The Quran verse here gives a clear directive to fulfill and honour any commitment or promise for we shall be questioned about honouring this commitment.

IX. Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

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O If ye find no one in the house, enter not until permission is given to you: if ye are asked to go back, go back: that makes for greater purity for yourselves: and Allah knows well all that ye do[26].

It can be argued that this verse should pop up every time someone enters a password to start any piece of software application because of strong deep felt meaning. The ACM talks about authorisation and the Quran talks about not making an entry unless permission is granted, but the Quran further establishes the principle of permission by adding that entry must not be made if one is told to go back. Quran further emphasises the immensity of entry and permission by stating that God is watching and that he knows what we do.

4 Proposed Islamic code of computer ethics

4.1 Principle 1: public software engineers

Public software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall:

4.2 Principle 2: client and employer

Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall:

4.3 Principle 3: product

Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible. In particular, software engineers shall:

4.4 Principle 4: judgment

Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.

4.5 Principle 5: management

Software engineering managers and team leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance. In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall:

4.6 Principle 6: profession

Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:

4.7 Principle 7: colleagues

Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues. In particular, software engineers shall:

4.8 Principle 8: self

Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession. In particular, software engineers shall continually endeavour to:

5 Method to apply the proposed Islamic code of computer ethics

6 Computer professionals ethical standing

It is only in the last four years that selected universities in Bahrain have realised the importance of teaching some form of ethics to their students who are studying information technology. Unfortunately, three major challenges face the universities which have taken this brave decision:

  1. How should ethics be taught?
  2. What are the contents of such a course?
  3. At what level should ethics be taught?

Most, if not all, universities in Bahrain have no specialised ethics course for IT students. Ethics is normally taught as part of another course such as a Generic Skills course. The reason for not having a specialised ethics course could be due to the three challenges listed above and because of the lack of awareness about the importance of such a field and its potential impact on their graduates.

Information technology graduates from universities in Muslim countries receive no education on ethics in any form with the exception of doing a course on general Islamic studies. Gulf universities such as the University of Bahrain give the students a compulsory course in Islamic studies. Most computer science graduates are technically competent but normally have little or no knowledge of the ethical issues relating to information technology, which supports the drive that ethics must be covered in the information technology degrees.

We conducted a survey of the level of ethical knowledge of the computer professionals and graduates in Bahrain as a sample of the computer professionals in Muslim countries in order to evaluate the need for teaching computer ethics to university students. To achieve this evaluation, we developed a short ethics course divided into two sessions:

(1) Present and discuss the ACM computer ethics and how it could be applied in the work place.

(2)Present and discuss the ACM computer ethics from an Islamic point of view and present (an earlier version of) the Islamic computer ethics presented earlier in this paper.

The teaching lasted four hours for each session, spread over two days. A discussion session was held after each session. The first session was presented as a behavioural issue which could have a social and economic impact. In the second session a number of Quranic verses and Hadiths were presented and discussed. The issue of sins or Sayaat and good deeds or Hasanats was discussed.

In order to achieve useful results, we identified seven different groups as shown in Table I. The gender of the participants was not considered and the groups consisted of males and females except in the case of group 7, who were all males. Groups who received ethics teaching attended together, and those who were supposed to attend only session 1 were informed beforehand. The objective of this exercise was to investigate the benefits of teaching the code of ethics of an international society and the benefits of teaching the Islamic computer ethics. This was a cumbersome task which required a great deal of effort and organization. Immediately at the end of the teaching session a simple questionnaire was distributed to the participants and collected from them before they left. Participants who did not attend any ethics teaching were given the questionnaire on an individual basis and were not grouped together. The sample shown in Table I may appear to be small, but we have to remember that we are dealing with a specialist community of individuals and thus they form a good sample from that community.

It would have been theoretically possible to evaluate the influence of every Quranic verse or Hadith on an individual or a group with relevance to a particular issue, but we excluded this idea because we felt that it does not serve the main objectives of this research.

The questionnaire consisted of the following questions and the results are shown in the corresponding tables:

1. Do you know about international computer societies computer codes of conduct or computer ethics? International computer societies include ACM, IEEE, BCS, etc.

Table II presents expected results since all the participants who attended the teaching sessions would know about the international societies' computer ethics codes. However, those who did not attend teaching sessions clearly show that in the case of group 1 students only one had heard of such a code. In the case of group 4, it is interesting to know that four out of nine had heard of such codes. In any case there is case to be made for teaching ethics to groups 1 and 4:

2. Do you agree with the copying of software produced by international companies for home use?

Table III presents very interesting results which are very encouraging for the authors since they demonstrate that it is beneficial to teach the international society computer ethics codes but it is more relevant and meaningful for a Muslim to see it from an Islamic point of view especially since session 2 made it clear that it is Haram (sinful or illegal) in Islam to take what is not yours and it is an act of theft in Islam. Almost all the participants from groups 1 and 4 do not see any harm out of such action of software piracy especially for home use. Groups 2 and 5 were influenced by session 1 teaching but only in a small way. We did not delve into why they would continue to agree with such piracy because it is outside the scope of this research paper:

3. If you are team member of a development team for a software project and you needed some supporting software to enable you to continue implementing your software and this software is costly. The software product is not yours to own and you are not responsible for any prosecution as a result. Would you: 1. Use a pirated copy instead and continue to use it? 2. Use a pirated copy but would insist on a licensed copy to be purchased for you? 3. Stop your work until a licensed copy is bought for you even if the software project owners would not buy a licensed copy, and this could affect your job status?

Table IV can be discussed and analysed in great detail, but we would simply summarise the most important conclusions. Some Muslim participants who are not religiously oriented would not be affected by a four hour session of an Islamic computer ethics. This can be seen from the results throughout where few expected the participants who attended sessions 1 and 2 to opt for option 3. It is interesting that some of the participant did choose the severe choice specified in option 3. It is more interesting to note that some of the participants from the groups who attended both sessions of ethics teaching, groups 3 and 6, did choose option 3. We also have to realize that IT professionals might choose options 2 and 3 out of their understanding of the piracy laws which they could be held as participants in the crime (rather than as a result of the sessions). It is encouraging to notice that quite a fair proportion of participants opted for option 3, which would appear to be severe, but they say they would rather uphold their religious ethics. Group 7 are pragmatic individuals, probably because of the business background and have taken the practical approach by choosing option 2:

4. If you are a team member of a development team for a software project and you discovered that this product would cause harm to society such as pornography, crime, religious hatred, etc. Would you: 1. Stop working on this software and ask to be assigned to another product? 2. Resign from this company immediately?

The results in Table V present very significant scenarios. We believe that being involved in a clear case of crime or detested actions is an act which is resented by the human nature and individuals are prepared, knowledgeable and are willing to take action regardless of their religion or religious inclinations. Based on these results, we do not notice any significant influence out of teaching sessions 1 or 2:

5. You are team member of a development team for a software project and you were offered a much better paid job in another company. By resigning from this job you would cause the company to loose a great deal of money to replace you and the software would be drastically delayed. Other people may loose their jobs because of your resignation. The company cannot match the offer you received. Would you: 1. Accept a slightly improved package and stay until they find another individual regardless of how long it would take?2. Resign and serve your resignation notice from this company regardless?

Table VI demonstrates one of the most challenging problems faced by software industry throughout the world where the staff turnover is quite high as a result of the demand for expert computer professionals. The question presented to the participants is a very tricky one as it forces the participant to make a choice between his/her own welfare as opposed to the prosperity of his/her colleagues and the company. Although we noticed a minor effect as a result of teaching sessions 1 and 2, the results are significant regardless of this effect. Maybe we place too much emphasis on the religious inclination of the individual when in reality motivations are a mixture of religious belief and other worldly factors such as survival.

7 Conclusion

Muslims generally tend to adhere to Islamic teachings as understood from Quran, Hadiths and Imam sayings. Our research investigated how this adherence can be utilised to improve the level of ethical conduct of Muslim IT professionals. To achieve this we proposed an Islamic code of computer ethics based on the ACM code of conduct and presented a method to implement it. We evaluated this proposed Islamic code by teaching it to IT professionals and university computing students. The results demonstrate that a Muslim IT professional would adhere to and respect a code of conduct based on Islamic teachings more than he/she would adhere to a code developed by an international computer society. The study findings clearly demonstrate the need to teach ethics in general to IT professionals as well as teaching computer ethics from an Islamic point of view for the interest of society and individuals. We aim to further this research by identifying the right way to utlilise Islam in contemporary IT applications.

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ImageTable IGroups of participants in the ethics knowledge and impact experiment
Table IGroups of participants in the ethics knowledge and impact experiment

ImageTable IIKnowledge of international computer societies codes of conduct or computer ethics?
Table IIKnowledge of international computer societies codes of conduct or computer ethics?

ImageTable IIIAgreement with the copying of software produced by international companies for home use
Table IIIAgreement with the copying of software produced by international companies for home use

ImageTable IVResponse to using pirated software in developing a software product
Table IVResponse to using pirated software in developing a software product

ImageTable VResponse to knowledge of working on a software product which is aimed for an unethical use
Table VResponse to knowledge of working on a software product which is aimed for an unethical use

ImageTable VIResponse to resignation from a job after receiving a much better offer
Table VIResponse to resignation from a job after receiving a much better offer

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Phukan, S., Dhillon, G. (2000), "Ethics and information technology use: a survey of US based SMEs", Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 8/5 pp.239-43.

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Prior, M., Rogerson, S., Fairweather, B. (2002), "The ethical attitudes of information systems professionals: outcome of an initial survey", Telematics and Informatics, Vol. 19 pp.21-36.

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Zainul, N., Osman, F., Mazlan, S.H. (2004), "E-commerce from an Islamic perspective", Electronic Research and Applications Journal, Vol. 3 No.3, pp.280-93.

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Further Reading

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, A.Y. (1977), Translation of the Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, Tahrike Tarsile Quran, Inc., Elmhurst, NY, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Alabd Abdulatif Mohd, A.M. (1988), Ethics in Islam, The Heritage Library, Port of Spain, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Al-Hilaliand, M.T., Khan, M.M. (1999), Translation of the Meaning of the Noble Qur'an in the English Language, King Fahad Complex for the Holy Qur'an, Madinah, .

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Alim Software (2000), Alim Software, ISL Software Corporation, Houston, TX, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Alsalman, F.M. (1999), Betrayal-causes, Symptoms and Effects, Dar Twaig, Riyadh, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Ambrogi, R.J. (2003), "Top sites: in search of ethics in the internet", Law Practice Management, Vol. 29 pp.2.

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Atkinson, W. (2003), "New buying tools present different ethical challenges", Purchasing, Vol. 132 No.4/6, pp.27-9.

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Berleur, J., van Weert, T.J., Munro, R.K. (2003), Key Issues in IFIP-SIG9.2.2 Approaches to Ethics of Computing, Informatics and the Digital Society, Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Business Software Alliance (n.d.), Business Software Alliance, Second Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study, available at: www.bsa.org/, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Editorial (2006a), "Bio-medical research ethics: an Islamic view, Part I", International Journal of Surgery, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Editorial (2006b), "Biomedical research ethics: an Islamic view, Part II", International Journal of Surgery, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Gassas, A.A. (2003), "Ahkam Al-Quran", Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence (CD), 1st ed., Dar Al-Fikr, Damascus, 949, version 1.01, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Hanson, V.D. (2002), "Why the Muslims misjudged us?", Wall Street Journal, Winter, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

(The) Holy Qur'an Software (2002), The Holy Qur'an Software, Ariss Computer Inc., Beirut, Version 4, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Howles, T. (2003), "Fostering the growth of a software quality culture", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 35 pp.2.

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Jarar, H.A. (1985), Good Influence – Quranic Ethics and Models, Dar Aldhiya, Jordan, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Wahba, A. (1989), Islamic Culture and its Evidence, Dar Alfikr, Damascus, .

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Weil, V. (2003), "Zeroing in on ethical issues in nanotechnology", Proceeding of the IEEE, Vol. 91 pp.11.

[Manual request] [Infotrieve]

Willison, R. (2006), "Understanding the perpetration of employee computer crime in the organisational context", Information and Organization, Vol. 16 pp.304-24.

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Internet sites

www.libumi.com

www.islamonline.org

www.acm.org

www.computer.org

www.idealibrary.com

www.isesco.org.ma/English/Sciences/Ethics/index_menu.htm

A Appendix. Some Islamic glossary

Allâh God.

Ayat It is the plural form of ayah. An individual verse in the Qur'an.

Hadith Sayings of the Prophet.

Mu'min A person who has deep faith in Allah.

Munafiq A hypocrite.

Nasihah Sincere, good advice.

Taqwa Piety.

Thawab Reward.

Zliimeen Wrongdoers.

Corresponding author

Mansoor Al-A'ali can be contacted at: mansoor.alaali@gmail.com