The Importance of Islamic Terminology in Building Knowledge and Regulating Sharʿi Understanding

This study aims to highlight the importance of Islamic terminology as a fundamental pillar in building knowledge and regulating Sharʿi understanding. A term is not merely a linguistic expression; rather, it is a cognitive framework that determines meaning, governs reasoning, contributes to the formulation of intellectual visions, and ensures the unity of scholarly reference among researchers. The Islamic heritage has shown special concern for terminology in works of jurisprudence, legal theory, theology, and Qur’anic exegesis, recognizing its direct effect on deriving rulings and shaping Islamic thought.
The study includes an introduction that addresses the significance of the subject, its objectives, and the methodology adopted. The first section discusses the definition of the Islamic term, its importance, characteristics, and its effect on regulating Sharʿi understanding and unifying scholarly reference. The second section presents an applied study of several central terms, such as faith, disbelief, piety, and Shariʿah. These terms are analyzed through Qur’anic and Prophetic texts, with clarification of scholars’ definitions of them and the effect of their regulation in preventing intellectual deviations and protecting Islamic identity.
The study concludes that Islamic terminology represents cognitive tools that determine methods of reasoning and ijtihad, contribute to building a coherent knowledge system, and strengthen the integration of heritage and modernity. It also recommends giving greater attention to terminology in Sharʿi curricula, establishing specialized bilingual glossaries, enhancing comparative studies between Islamic terminology and modern concepts, and supporting institutional projects aimed at regulating terminology and employing modern technologies to build digital databases available to researchers.

Islamic terminology, knowledge, Sharʿi understanding, usul al-fiqh, Islamic sciences

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