I will showcase a toy example where machine learning can be helpful to Quranic Studies.

1. Is Machine Learning useful for Quranic Studies?
Abdul Baqi M. Sharaf

2. manual counting! excerpt from Ibn Kathir introduction
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3. manual investigation! excerpt from badae' al-Fawaed by Ibn al-Qayyem
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4. Quranic Resources

5. tanzil.net
• highly verified precise Quran text
• many translations:
http://tanzil.net/trans/

6. http://corpus.quran.co
m/
annotated linguistic resource which
shows the Arabic grammar, syntax
and morphology for each word in
the Holy Quran

7. Classification of
Surahs into Makki and
Madani

8. Makki and Madani * Debatable cases
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9. Features [1/2]
verse of "sajdah" (prostration)
the aversion letter "kalla"
the phrase "Ya Ayyuha al-Naas"
the phrase "Ya Ayyuha
alladhina "
surahs with initials
story of Adam and Iblis
stories of previous nations
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10. Features [2/2]
linguistic tools for denunciation,
excoriation, emphasis and oath
length of ayaat
eschatological topics
Jihad and battles of Islam
rulings on marriage and nursing
dialogue with ahl al-Kitab
pillars of Islam
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11. Reduction to
computation
representation
Verses of Sajdah (K)-> search for
root “Sjd” -<< Noise: “al-masjid al-
Haraam” in Surah al-Baqarah
Quranic Initials (K) -<< Noise:
Surah al-Baqarah, ar-Raad
eschatological topics (K)-> Search
for: roots “Jannah”, “Jahannam”,
etc. <<- Noise: many occurance in
Surah Baqarah (D)
Jihad and battles of Islam (D) ->
Search for “jhd”, “qtl” <<- Noise: “
wa aqsamu billahe Jahda
aymanihim..” (Nahl)
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12. Weka Representation
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13. Decision Trees
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14. Decision Trees
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Top: random tree
Bottom: J48

15. Classifier outcome
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13 – ar-Ra’d
55 – ar-Rahman
76 – al-Insaan
98 – al-Bayyenah
99 – al-Zalzalah
110 – an-Nasr

16. Clustering
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17. Identify
problem
• Suitable for
machine
learning
Identify
feature sets
• Domain
knowledge
• Existing
books
Reduce to
machine
learning
format
• Be aware of
noise and
inaccuracy
Run
experiments
• Training set
vs. Test set
Interpret
results
• Verify and
validate by
domain
experts
Machine Learning
Journey