Statement from Muslim Organizations on Ethical Guardrails in Artificial Intelligence

We, the undersigned Muslim organizations and individuals, write to defend a principle sacred to both our faith and the American Constitution: freedom of conscience. The U.S. government has punished a company for refusing to participate in activities it believes to be harmful. Both Islam and the values enshrined in the founding documents of this nation hold that this freedom must be protected, not crushed.

The Situation

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI system, signed a $200 million contract with the Department of War with two conditions: that its technology not be used for mass surveillance of American citizens, and not for fully autonomous weapons systems. The Department of War demanded those conditions be removed, insisting on access for “all lawful purposes.” Anthropic refused.

On February 27, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order directing every federal agency to “immediately cease” using Anthropic’s technology, calling the company “leftwing nut jobs” and threatening “major civil and criminal consequences.”

To be clear about what Anthropic asked for: not a blanket refusal to work with the military, but two conditions. No mass surveillance of American citizens. No autonomous weapons that make kill decisions without a human in the loop. This is an astonishingly low ethical bar, and the fact that a company is not permitted to maintain even this standard should alarm every person of conscience.

Our Position

1. Freedom of conscience is sacred in both Islam and the American Constitution, and the government is attacking it. The Quran declares: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, taught: “There is no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience to the Creator.” The Supreme Court declared in West Virginia v. Barnette (1943): “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” When a person or organization identifies wrongdoing, refusing to participate is not merely a right. It is an obligation. The government’s actions against Anthropic strike at the heart of both traditions.
2. Every human life is sacred, and the decision to take one must never be delegated to a machine. The Quran states: “Whoever kills a soul, it is as if he has killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a soul, it is as if he has saved all of humanity” (5:32). Autonomous weapons that remove human judgment from the decision to take a life are incompatible with this principle. Every life taken must be a decision borne by a human conscience, not an algorithm.
3. Mass surveillance violates the dignity God granted to every human being. The Quran explicitly prohibits spying: “Do not spy on one another” (49:12). Mass surveillance of citizens, whether conducted by humans or by AI, violates this injunction. That a government would punish a company for refusing to enable it should concern every American.
4. “Legal” does not mean “ethical,” and “all lawful purposes” is not a meaningful constraint. Conscience exists precisely because the law is not always sufficient. For seven years, the United States deemed torture legal by internal memo, in defiance of every international convention and common decency. What is “lawful” can be redefined in secret, without public debate, and remain in effect for years before anyone finds out. It is truly scary to consider what the military could secretly deem “legal” in its use of AI.
5. This sets a dangerous precedent for any organization that tries to follow its conscience. If a company can be banned from government, publicly vilified, and threatened with criminal prosecution for exercising its conscience on the most basic ethical questions, then no company will ever exercise that conscience again. This does not just affect AI companies. It affects every organization, including religious ones, that may one day need to say no to the government.

We Have Seen This Before

Our community has direct experience with what “all lawful purposes” looks like in practice. After 9/11, Muslim Americans were subjected to mass surveillance, infiltration of mosques, and the systematic treatment of entire communities as suspects. These programs were deemed legal by internal departments operating in secret. Each took over a decade to expose and roll back. We are not speculating about what happens when surveillance is conducted without ethical constraints. We are reporting from experience. AI will make the next version faster, broader, and harder to undo.

Our Call

We call on:

• The President to reaffirm his commitment to the values of freedom of conscience enshrined in the First Amendment, and to rescind his executive order against Anthropic.
• The U.S. Congress to enact legislation protecting companies exercising freedom of conscience from government retaliation, ensuring that no organization can be punished for refusing to participate in activities it believes to be harmful.
• Other AI companies to exercise their own conscience. Stating you share these red lines is not enough. Stand behind them.
• The American public to recognize that freedom of conscience is under attack and to make their voices heard.
• Muslim Americans to speak out. The Quran commands us to “cooperate in righteousness and piety, and do not cooperate in sin and aggression” (5:2). When a company takes a principled stand at great cost to itself, our faith does not allow us to stand by in silence.