Beyond Human Rivals: Emotional Attachment to Artificial Intelligence as A Non-Human Third Party in Marriage Under Islamic Family Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61159/7emm7p94Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Attachment, Non-Human Third Party, Marital Relationship, Islamic Family LawAbstract
The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed patterns of human–technology interaction, as conversational systems now deliver personalised, adaptive, and seemingly empathic responses. This development has given rise to emotional attachment, namely an affective bond that users form with AI. In the context of marriage, the phenomenon raises a new legal and ethical problem because AI may take over part of the functions of affection, emotional support, and communication that have traditionally belonged to the husband–wife relationship. This study aims to analyse emotional attachment to AI and to examine whether AI can be positioned as a non-human third party in marriage from the perspective of Islamic family law. The study employs normative legal research with conceptual, philosophical, and statute approaches, drawing on the Qur'an, hadith, Indonesian marriage legislation, and recent peer-reviewed literature. The findings show that emotional attachment to AI produces a new pattern of emotional closeness that resembles human interpersonal relationships. Although AI is neither human nor a legal subject, its presence can reshape the quality of the spousal bond; it can therefore be understood functionally as a non-human third party. An analysis based on maqasid al-usrah (the objectives of the family) indicates that the phenomenon should be assessed according to its actual effects on the preservation of sakinah (tranquillity), mawaddah (affection), ra?mah (compassion), and family resilience. The study concludes that the concept of the third party in Islamic family law should be reconstructed from an ontological to a functional criterion.
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