A Survey of Semantic Computing: General and Islamic Domain Applications

Semantic searching has already received a substantial amount of interest as a way to search specific contents on the web. The development of ontologies has proven their worth in providing interesting solutions to knowledge validation. This paper presents a general overview about the incorporation of semantic searching in different computing related areas, more specifically its usage in the domain of Islamic knowledge and legal rulings. Semantic computing is basically an approach towards the ?relevant and meaningful? search that relies on semantic structures, such as ontological representation. Furthermore, this paper provides a summary of relevant work conducted so far in the said domains. It also focuses on the importance of Islamic Legal Rulings (Fatawa) which are authentic legal documents provided by specialized scholars (Muftis) on different daily life issues in the context of Islam. To find a valid and concluded legal ruling regarding a particular issue is surely not a simple task from an enormous knowledgebase of Islamic Legal Rulings given by different scholars in different times. These collections are so vast mainly due to a couple of reasons; one being the time span since the inception of Islam that spreads over fourteen hundred years and the other being the difference of opinions recorded by different scholars in different stages, places, and time. These arguments clearly justify the need of semantic computing in the prescribed domain and its appropriateness as a mean for searching in case of Islamic Legal Ruling besides the keyword based searching.