https://ajis.com.au/index.php/ajis <p data-start="2193" data-end="2864">The Australian Journal of Islamic Studies is an international, open access, continuous publishing, double-blind peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the scholarly study of Islam and Muslims. Contributions are encouraged from disciplines and sub-disciplines related to the study of Islam and Muslims; these may include theology, philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence, contemporary studies, comparative religion, spirituality, Qur’anic and Sunnah studies, and history. While case studies and fieldwork are welcome, submissions should clearly demonstrate how their findings contribute to broader theoretical, social, or global discussions in the study of Islam and Muslims.</p> <p data-start="2866" data-end="3124">The journal ensures immediate open access to its content, based on the view that freely accessible research advances the international circulation of knowledge. It is indexed in Scopus, reflecting its growing international reach and scholarly engagement.</p> <p data-start="3126" data-end="3465">AJIS follows a continuous publishing model, whereby articles are published online individually as soon as they have completed the peer-review and production process. Articles are then added to the relevant issue as they become ready for publication. The journal publishes multiple issues annually, including regular and special issues.</p> <p data-start="3467" data-end="3557">Special issues of the journal may also be published and are overseen by Guest Editors.</p> <p data-start="3559" data-end="3750">AJIS is managed by Associate Professor Zuleyha Keskin (Editor-in-Chief), Dr Suleyman Sertkaya (Managing Editor), Dr Jan A. Ali (Book Review Editor), and Dr Carol Mroue (Assistant Editor).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The journal is published by <a href="https://www.isra.org.au/">ISRA Academy</a>.</p> ISRA Academy en-US Australian Journal of Islamic Studies 2207-4414 <p>Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under a <strong data-start="411" data-end="451">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)</strong> licence, which permits others to share, adapt, and redistribute the work in any medium or format, for any purpose, including commercial use, provided the original authorship and initial publication in this journal are properly acknowledged.</p> https://ajis.com.au/index.php/ajis/article/view/1351 <p>This article examines al-Ghazali’s (d. 505/1111) critique of terminological distortion in the <em>Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn</em> (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 – <em>fiqh </em>(jurisprudence), <em>ʿilm </em>(knowledge), <em>tawḥīd </em>(the Oneness of God), <em>dhikr</em>/<em>tadhkīr </em>(remembrance/admonition), and <em>ḥikmah </em>(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 <em>Kitāb al-ʿIlm</em> (Book of Knowledge) and related passages in the <em>Iḥyāʾ</em>. It maintains interpretive discipline through repeated re-reading of chapters, cross-checking individual passages against the architecture of the <em>Kitāb al-ʿIlm</em>, 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.</p> Ahmad Faizuddin Ramli Zulkiflee Haron Ramli Awang Copyright (c) 2026 Ahmad Faizuddin Ramli, Zulkiflee Haron, Ramli Awang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2026-07-06 2026-07-06 11 4 e100 e100 10.55831/ajis.v11i4.1351