October 2012

October 29, 2012

To Progress or Drift Dangerously Downstream?

Progress signifies a movement forward. But it tells us nothing about the actual nature of the movement. Is it downstream or upstream? Is it hurtling to danger or marching to safety? Is it a descent or an ascent? Is it a fall from Grace or a lifting of the Spirit? The fact that something marches forward progressively doesn’t… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, politics & society

Gai Eaton, Islam and progress, liberal Islam, liberalism, must Islam modernise?, reforming Islam
October 23, 2012

Know Your Soul, Grow Your Soul

Many verses in the Qur’an extol the significance of the soul or nafs. In one celebrated passage, it states: By the soul and Him that formed it, then inspired it with its wickedness and God-fearingness. He is truly successful who purifies it, and he is indeed ruined who corrupts it. [Q.91:7-10] The Qur’an also offers… Continue reading

mental health & psychology, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

al-Jurjani, degrees of the soul, how to purify the soul, inward voyage, lower self, Muslim spirituality, purification of the heart, purification of the soul, sufism, tasawwuf, tazkiyat al-nafs, the ego, three types of soul
October 21, 2012

Have You Parted Company With the Qur’an?

The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘The best of you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it to others.’1 And then there is this hadith: ‘Verily God elevates a people by this Book and debases others by it.’2 These hadiths probably go some way in explaining why Muslims – and what some still call the Muslim world… Continue reading

qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, short read, short texts for reflection

abandoning the Qur’an, Ibn al-Qayyim, Qur’an
October 17, 2012

Practical Steps for Learning Fiqh

According to Imam al-Nawawi (d.676H/1277CE), there are two opinions whether a lay person is obligated to follow one school of law (madhhab) or not. He stipulates: ‘What the proof necessitates is that a layman is not required to adhere to a specific madhhab. Instead, he seeks a fatwa from whomsoever he chooses or whomsoever he encounters… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, knowledge & learning, salafism reconsidered

advantages of following a madhhab, does a layman have to follow a school of thought, seven steps to learning a madhhab, should we follow a madhhab, studying fiqh, taqlid and madhhabs
October 14, 2012

God: the Ultimate Concern

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God: Allah, the One, the Absolutely Perfect, Unique, Eternal, Beautiful, Loving, Infinitely Kind and Compassionate, All-Knowing, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, beyond what man can ever conceive, yet nearer to him than his jugular vein. [50:16] Islam does not demand blind faith in God. The Qur’an tells us a great… Continue reading

consider Islam, theology

God in Islam, God in the Qur’an, God’s beautiful names, knowing God, reality of God, the Divine Names, the greatest knowledge
October 12, 2012

What Does Islam Really Mean By Worship?

The Qur’an says: Have you not seen that God has made subserviant to you whatever is in the heavens and earth, and immersed you in His graces, seen and unseen. [31:20] This realisation, that we are immersed in God’s bounties, should inspire within us a profound and abiding sense of shukr or gratitude to God.… Continue reading

sufism, suluk & spirituality

gratitude, love, meaning of ‘ibadah, meaning of worship in Islam, surrender to God
October 9, 2012

The Four Imams: Did They Forbid the Layman from Taqlid?

Let me clarify two issues before I explain the point of this post. The first issue that needs clarifying is: what is taqlid? The second one is: who are the Four Imams? [1] As an Arabic word, taqlid stems from qallada, meaning: ‘To place a collar (qiladah) around the neck.’1 It is called this because the person who does taqlid, the muqallid, entrusts his affair… Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, knowledge & learning, salafism reconsidered

Abu Hanifah, Ahmad bin Hanbal, al-Shafi’i, blind-following, Four Imams, Hanafi, Hanbali, Imam Malik, madhhabs, Maliki, medieval Muslim law colleges, Muslim schools of law, Shafi’i, taqlid
October 6, 2012

How Best to Keep Strife out of Our Life?

Shakespeare tells us in Othello: ”Tis the soldiers’ life. To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife.’ In other words, it is part of the job description of men at war that they will often be woken from whatever pleasant sleep they could be having by the unexpected call to arms; or a surprise enemy attack; or… Continue reading

short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

avoid argumentation, conflict resolution, Othello, peace makers, Shakespeare
October 4, 2012

Islam’s Social Vision: Braving the Steep Road

Islam’s vision of society, as has been so admirably stated by Tim Winter (a.k.a. Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad), ‘is rooted in immediate and sincere concern for human welfare under a compassionate God.’ One of the prophetic statements which best encapsulates this outlook is found in the following hadith: ‘O people! Spread [the greetings of] peace,… Continue reading

activism, contemporary concerns, ethics & morals, politics & society

being peace-makers, charity, conflict resolution, family as society’s backbone, Islam’s social teachings, keep ties of kin, nurturing piety
October 1, 2012

Legitimate Islamic Learning: Being People of Isnad

One cannot worship God with loving submission, save with sound sacred knowledge or ‘ilm. The Golden Rule in this regard was stated by Imam al-Bukhari in these terms: al-‘ilmu qabla’l-qawli wa’l-‘aml – ‘Knowledge comes before speech and action.’1 If we don’t possess sound knowledge, we could make something a part of the religion which can never be… Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, knowledge & learning, salafism reconsidered

fiqh, ijazah, madhhabs, unbroken chain, way of the salaf

About Me

My name is Surkheel Sharif (aka Abu Aaliyah). Born and raised in London, England, I began my more formal, but gradual studies of the Islamic sciences around the late 1980s (just a few years after having quit my degree in Astrophysics). I also gained an MA in Islamic Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, in 2009.

I’ve translated a few Islamic works from Arabic into English; one of them, a short text on Muslim spirituality, called The Exquisite Pearl (2000). I have also authored a few books, including: More Fish Please & the Earth’s Complaint (2011); Fussing Over the 15th of Sha’ban & the Golden Rule of Differing (2011); A Muslim’s Guide to Modernity (2025); and Salafism Reconsidered (forthcoming)

I am the founder and current Director of the Jawziyyah Institute (est. 1999): a non-profit organisation dedicated to cultivating an Islam true to its time-honoured tradition, relevant to its current context, and of benefit to wider society.