An independent inquiry · History, evidence & perspective
The Islam InquiryHistory · Evidence · Perspective

Tools for thinking

Ask better questions of AI.

Use an assistant to organise an inquiry. Keep responsibility for the sources and conclusions.

Updated 20 October 2026Editorial review edition

These prompts are suggestions. AI output is not evidence. Verify passages, hadith numbering, Arabic claims, quotations and tafsir citations against the actual source. Do not upload private information about other people.

Compare interpretations

Compare two or three named interpretations of Qur’an [reference]. First reproduce or link to the full passage in context and identify the translation. For each interpretation, name the commentator, work, school or perspective and source location. Separate what the text explicitly says from the commentator’s inference. Present the strongest disagreement fairly. Do not invent quotations, page numbers or hadith references. Mark anything you cannot verify. End with what would help a reader evaluate the difference.

Check an assumption

I am assuming that [claim]. Help me state the exact claim about Islam, Muhammad or the Qur’an. Distinguish historical evidence, theological interpretation and personal conviction. Identify the strongest support and strongest objection, the earliest available evidence, possible source dependence and any important disagreement. Tell me what evidence would change the assessment. Do not treat a consensus claim as established without a source.

Prepare a source review

Prepare a source review of [text or report]. Identify author or attribution, original language, composition date, surviving manuscript date where known, genre, audience and transmission history. If it is hadith, distinguish isnad and matn, give collection/book/number and the named grading authority. Explain numbering differences if relevant. Link to the source and state what it can and cannot establish. Label every unverified detail. Do not substitute an AI summary for the source.
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