A sociological evaluation of the Islamic perspective on the effects of technological developments on the modern family

Throughout the history of civilization, technology has been one of the fundamental tools in humanity's struggle for existence against nature; it has profoundly transformed social structures through the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the digitalization process. Societies' relationship with technology has changed over the course of history in both philosophical and sociological terms and has been debated many times. This transformation in societies has not only been material in nature; it has also rebuilt many moral, ethical, and cultural aspects of societies and given them different meanings. The institution of the family has also been directly affected by these transformations. Production methods, social roles, and reproductive practices have been reshaped. The institution of the family has continued to exist to this day, acquiring different values and forms periodically alongside technological developments. The family, one of the functional institutions of the social structure, is facing a new turning point with biotechnological developments. Today, assisted reproductive technologies constitute one of the most significant effects of biotechnological developments on the family structure. This situation has reopened the debate on the boundaries of both social norms and religious and ethical regulations. The research examined the views of 14 selected representatives from two different schools of Islamic jurisprudence on assisted reproduction. Analyses conducted within the framework of qualitative research methods revealed that fiqh approaches are largely based on the traditional family structure, but technological developments have stretched this structure, creating new areas of debate. The findings indicate that classical fiqh interpretations may be insufficient in responding to the rapidly changing nature of technology and, therefore, express the need for a new approach in the field of fiqh. The most significant difference between the two schools of thought is that the historical school is more open to reinterpretation. Consequently, this study opens up a discussion on the transformative effects of technology on the family institution, the limits of fiqh discourse, and the possible ways in which these limits may be stretched in the future. In this regard, it is emphasized that it has become imperative to rethink the relationship between modern biotechnological developments and religious norms, both from the perspective of the discipline of fiqh and from that of social structure.