consider Islam

May 14, 2025

Islam’s Five Big Life Questions

‘THE STARTING POINT of any religion is wonderment. The sheer mystery of our lives demands an explanation. From the gas clouds floating in interstellar space, to the tiniest subatomic particles, the realm of action into which we have been thrust must be understood if we are to know how to live. “The unexamined life is Continue reading

consider Islam, da’wah & muslim apologetics, theology

defining true belief, Islam’s epistemology, Islam’s existential question, proofs for God, the big questions
August 30, 2021

When Hearts Are Blinded, Blinkered or Biased

Sufyan b. ‘Uyaynah, one of the saintly scholars of early Islam, would frequently recite this following couplet: al-mar’u idha kana lahu fikrah/fa fi kulfi shay’in lahu ‘ibrah – ‘A person, if he is given to [frequent] contemplation / Will draw a valuable lesson from everything.’ This visual Quranic reflection highlights one verse of the Holy Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, short read, visual qur’an reflections

blind hearts, Islamic view of the spiritual heart, learning life’s valuable lessons, Quran and the spiritual heart, the divine gaze focuses on the human heart, the seeing heart in Islam
August 10, 2021

To Give When One Sees A Need, Not Just When Asked

Culled from Imam al-Tabari’s tafsir, this Qur’an Reflection explains that those with means are responsible for seeking out those in need, whether they ask or not, recognising that part of their surplus wealth is a right that must be put in the service of the poor and the needy. For in Islam, true generosity isn’t Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, visual qur’an reflections

importance of charity in Islam, the rights of the beggar and the destitute in Islam, the rights of the poor and the needy in Islam, who has a right over my wealth?
July 13, 2021

How Did We Get Here?

This Qur’an reflection tackles, in an uncomplicated way, life’s big question: how did everything come to be? When damaged hearts are invited to confront the question of why there is something rather than nothing; when they are urged to consider that the overwhelming impressions of design in us, around us, and also above us in the starry Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, short read, visual qur’an reflections

Islam’s cosmic proofs for God’s existence, proofs for God’s existence, The Qur’an confronting atheist hearts, why is there something instead of nothing?
July 1, 2021

The Garments of Necessity, Beauty & Piety

Having explained how Satan deceived Adam and his wife, peace be upon them, to eat of the tree, thereby exposing their nakedness [Q.7:22-25], this verse speaks of God’s grace in how he teaches us to cover our nakedness and adorn ourselves with clothes. It also teaches us that there is a close link between the Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, visual qur’an reflections

al-Qurtubi on covering one’s nakedness, explaining libas al-daruri; libas al-takmilat; and libas al-taqwa, Islamic dress code, meaning of Garment of Godliness, three degrees of dressing in Islam, types of dress in Islam
June 21, 2021

The Aim Behind Reciting Allah’s Book

Based on the words of a famous seventh century master Qur’an reciter, ‘Ilm al-Din al-Sakhawi, this Qur’an Reflection visually sets out the aims for reciting the Holy Book and benefiting from its guidance. (Previous Qur’an Reflections can be seen here and here). Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, visual qur’an reflections

three aims behind reciting the Koran, three reasons to recite the Qur’an, why read the Qur’an?
June 10, 2021

Comprehensive Verse on Noble Character

Here’s the second in the series of “Qur’an Reflections,” that aims to convey some of the essential meanings of the Holy Book, in a concise visual format. This one sums up the attitude which best represents nobility of character and conduct. It is one of the most comprehensive verses of the Qur’an encouraging forbearance towards Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, visual qur’an reflections

Islam encourages forbearance and forgiveness when mistreated, Islam’s teachings on how to behave with others, most comprehensive verse in the Qur’an about good character, Qur’an and good character
June 8, 2021

Nurturing Love for God

The above is the first in a series of “Qur’an Reflections” which aims to explain (in visual format) some of the ideas, practical wisdoms and subtleties that are found and embedded in the Holy Qur’an. This first one expresses eight practical ways in which we can actualise the reality of the above verse, based upon Continue reading

consider Islam, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, visual qur’an reflections

Jawziyyah Institute, Qur’an reflections, quranic reflections, surkheel sharif, visual Qur’an reflections
October 30, 2020

Islam, Freedom, Modernity: Mastery of the Self v. Slavery to the Self

Believer must realise that, at root, there’s a parting of ways between Islam and the liberal monoculture when it comes to what human beings fundamentally are, what it is possible for them to be or become, and what it means to be liberated or free. Islam teaches that the human person is imbued with a Continue reading

consider Islam, modernity & muslimness, short read

Isam’s victory comes with patience, Islam and human flourishment, Islam and self-mastery, Islam and true freedom, Islam is about liberation from the lower self, modernity is about slavery to the self
September 11, 2020

Man, Meaning & Modernity

This is a short five minute video, done in conjunction with Ustadhah Uzma Jung, about how human beings are meaning-seeking creatures who have an inner urge to want to find purpose and meaning. No matter how much our needs are catered for, we humans have a hunger to find meaning and to ask: Why are Continue reading

consider Islam, da’wah & muslim apologetics

finding fulfilment, Islam and the meaning of life, purpose of life, short reminder about life’s meaning

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.