short read

February 20, 2020

Footprints on the Sands of Time 7

We moderns have been persuaded that we each have ‘a right to think for ourselves,’ and we imagine that we exercise such a right freely and autonomously. But we are unwilling to acknowledge, despite the plethora of evidences and examples around us, that our every thought is (and continues to be) shaped by cultural influences Continue reading

short read

Islam and modernity, Islam and progress, Islam and the monoculture, Islamic enlightenment, modern Muslimness
February 12, 2020

The Soul of Islam is a Vigilant and Mindful Heart

Revelation tells us that muraqabah, vigilance of Allah, is one of the sublimest spiritual stations. We are told too that habituating our heart to such vigilance requires training the heart gradually and step-by-step. Masters of the heart instruct us to accustom ourselves to being mindful and shy of Allah, even if it be for short periods at a time Continue reading

consider Islam, heart matters, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

being mindful of Allah, cultivating a mindful heart, divine vigilance, God is closer to us than our jugular vein, heart of Islam, muraqabah, spiritual vigilance, the soul of Islam is muraqabah, vigilance of God
December 16, 2019

Worldly Detachment & the Path of God’s Love

Crack-consumerism is the collective substance abuse that we as a nation now partake in. The remedy for this greed, avarice, hyper consumption and predatoriness is the forgotten Islamic virtue of zuhd – ‘renunciation’ or ‘worldly detachment.’ Speaking of such detachment, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said: ‘Zuhd is of three degrees. Firstly, to shun the forbidden; Continue reading

heart matters, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

guarding against the forbidden is great pillar of spiritual practice, how not to be consumed by consumerism?, Imam Ahmad and Zuhd, practical zuhd in our daily life, Shaykh Jalil Ahmad Akhoon and avoiding the haram, three degrees of zuhd, three levels of worldly detachment
December 8, 2019

Jesus & the Dajjal: Politics, Justice and Peace on Earth

AS BELIEVERS, WE ARE not meant to see politics as merely the playing-out of the various interests of people vis-a-via one another. Rather, we must see it more so as the playing out of the af‘al al-rabb – the divine acts (lit. “acts of the Lord”) – in human society. Without trying to understand what Continue reading

activism, eschatology & the end days, politics & society, short read

al-Hasan al-Basri’s device about political tyranny, can political oppression be rectified without rebellion, how Jesus will restore peace, Islam’s end of days story, Islamic politics and the acts of God, no Islamic politics without understanding the divine acts, political and economic fitnah of the Dajjal, Quran and reason for political oppression, sins can cause political oppression, the day there is no more war, true peace ultimately prevails with Islam
December 5, 2019

Intelligent and Informed Faith is Our Only Option

THE LATE GAI EATON PUT his finger on the crux of the matter (as it seems to me), when he wrote three or four decades ago: ‘I think it must have been easy enough in earlier ages in the Christian world, and is still easy in those parts of the Muslim world which remain traditional, Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, modernity & muslimness, reason, religion, rationality, short read, technology & social change

challenge assumptions of liberal modern its, Gai Eaton on Islam and modernity, Muslims must have intelligent faith, Muslims need to understand modernity
November 25, 2019

Recognising the Role & Value of Muslim Teachers

DESPITE THEM BEING on the frontline of rearing, educating and nurturing the hearts and minds of the young, day in; day out, the sad reality is that Muslim teachers are still hugely undervalued by us Muslims as a community. And yet it is undeniable that young people are more positively influenced by teachers than they Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, short read

importance of Muslim school teachers, Muslims must give Muslik teachers their rightful due, nurturing young Muslims, role of Muslims schools, young Muslims turn to Muslim teachers more than scholars
September 14, 2019

Limericks to Engage the Faith-Based Mind: 2

Here are some more limericks highlighting, not just religious themes, but also faith-based conundrums and challenges (an earlier helping can be read here): I A hippy who was ever so calm, Thought that peace was the whole of Islam. His faith got derailed; God’s Oneness, he veiled; For a penny, he’ll now read your palm. Continue reading

modernity & muslimness, poetry, limericks, literature, politics & society, short read

forms of pride, legitimate differences of opinion, showing off
September 12, 2019

Islam in a Nutshell

This is a Five Minute Meditation on the khutbat al-hajah – the “sermon done for a need.” The Prophet, upon whom be peace, usually recited it in his Friday and marriage sermons. Although it is short and brief, Shaykh Surkheel Abu Aaliyah discusses how it is actually an on-point, profound summary of the whole of Continue reading

short read
September 10, 2019

Limericks to Engage the Faith-Based Mind: 1

Here are a collection of limericks, short and snappy, through which a variety of religious themes and faith-based issues are served-up as quirks, curiosities and, of course, food for thought: I A lad who watched Starsky & Hutch, Then got the Khawarij-like touch. As his raged unfurled, He said: ‘I must change the world. ‘I Continue reading

consider Islam, modernity & muslimness, poetry, limericks, literature, politics & society, short read

counterterrorism, Islam and terrorism, khawarij, sufis and salafis, taqlid
August 30, 2019

Principle v. Practice: Questions on Modern Muslimness

In principle, there’s good cause to counter the allegation that, historically, Islam impeded the development of modern science in the medieval Muslim world. In practice, this must not translate into the belief that scientific progress is an absolute value upon which the credibility of Islam must actually rest. ≡ In principle, a Muslim scholar possessed Continue reading

contemporary concerns, da’wah & muslim apologetics, modernity & muslimness, politics & society, science & religion, short read, theology

fate of non-Muslims in the Afterlife, how Muslims can best grow and thrive in the West, Islam and evolution, Muslims and the environment, pride in Islam, should Muslims be political activists or apolitical, status of science in Islam, what makes a person a Muslim

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.