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Vol. 11 No. 4 (2026)
Special Issue: Sociology of the Islamic Golden Age

Special Issue: Sociology of the Islamic Golden Age

Terminological Drift and the Reordering of Knowledge from Al-Ghazali’s Perspective

https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v11i4.1351

Published 06.07.2026

Ahmad Faizuddin Ramli
The National University of Malaysia

Zulkiflee Haron
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Ramli Awang
Independent Scholar, Malaysia.

Abstract

This article examines al-Ghazali’s (d. 505/1111) critique of terminological distortion in the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) as a diagnosis of epistemological disorder within the Islamic sciences. It argues that al-Ghazali understood semantic contraction not merely as a linguistic shift or rhetorical concern, but as a process that reshaped the hierarchy of knowledge, scholarly prestige, and the spiritual telos of learning. Focusing on five interrelated terms – fiqh (jurisprudence), ʿilm (knowledge), tawḥīd (the Oneness of God), dhikr/tadhkīr (remembrance/admonition), and ḥikmah (wisdom), the study traces a recurring pattern in which originally expansive concepts became narrowed through disciplinary capture, performative usage, or reduced doctrinal formulation. Methodologically, the article combines qualitative content analysis with close textual reading of the Kitāb al-ʿIlm (Book of Knowledge) and related passages in the Iḥyāʾ. It maintains interpretive discipline through repeated re-reading of chapters, cross-checking individual passages against the architecture of the Kitāb al-ʿIlm, and limiting claims to meanings explicitly supported by the text. The article concludes that al-Ghazali’s reflections on terminology are best understood as part of a wider sociology of the Islamic sciences, in which the governance of key terms helped order scholarly status, regulate authoritative knowledge, and shape the social life of learning in the Islamic Golden Age.

Keywords

al-Ghazali, Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, terminological drift, Islamic epistemology, hierarchy of sciences, sociology of knowledge

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