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Academic ethics is a core pillar of quality and integrity in higher education. Within Malaysia’s Islamic Higher Education Institutions (IHEIs), lecturers are expected to uphold not only professional standards but also ethical conduct informed by Islamic epistemology. This conceptual paper explores challenges in fostering academic ethics among Muslim lecturers, focusing on budaya ilmu (knowledge culture) and muraqabah (God-consciousness) as transformative ethical principles. Through critical review of literature, it highlights institutional inertia, ambiguity in ethical practice and the weak integration of Islamic values in staff development. The study argues that current compliance-based systems are insufficient to cultivate genuine ethical responsibility. Instead, it proposes a spiritually grounded framework that embeds muraqabah into academic governance, promoting internal accountability over external surveillance. Budaya ilmu, as a cultural and epistemological foundation, supports ethical conduct through humility, sincerity and moral responsibility. Together, these values underpin a holistic ethical model that aligns personal virtue with institutional goals. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for policy enhancement, ethical leadership training and cultural transformation within IHEIs. This approach repositions academic ethics not as bureaucratic protocol, but as a spiritually motivated commitment central to Islamic educational identity and excellence.
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