The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

knowledge & learning

May 24, 2021

On True Salafism, False Salafism & Ijma‘ Theology (1/2)

Much has been written about Salafism (salafiyyah) over the past half a century or so, particularly after 9-11. Among Muslims who ascribe to Sunni Islam, the whole concept of Salafism and what it stands for (and what it has done at the ground level) continues to be a source of great contention. While some see… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, orthodoxy & ahl al-sunnah, salafism reconsidered, short texts for reflection, theology

are most Muslims in hellfire?, are today’s salafis the real saved sect?, is the saved sect a tiny clique of people?, meaning of salafism, place of ijma‘ in Sunni orthodoxy, salafi ‘aqidah v. salafi manhaj, splitting over ijtihadi issues is hallmark of deviants, true salafism v. false salafism, who are the innovators?, who or what is a salafi?
March 25, 2021

Feigning Islamic Learning

IN MANUALS WRITTEN TO train Muslim scholars and students of Sacred Law, it cautions to beware of becoming an Abu Shibr (lit. “Father of a Span”). Thus it is said that: ‘Knowledge has three spans [or stretches]: whosoever enters the first stretch becomes puffed up with pride; whoever enters the second is humbled; and whoever enters the third realises they know… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning

don’t be an Abu Shibr, feigning Islamic knowledge, Ibn Hazm on pretenders to knowledge, Ibn Taymiyyah on half-baked knowledge, Islamic knowledge and delusions of grandeur
February 22, 2021

Denying the Hadiths About Jesus’ Second Coming

Q. As a Muslim, must we believe in the return of Jesus, peace be upon him, and also in the Dajjal? Why are such matters not mentioned in the Qur’an? And is it true that the ahadith which mention them are all lies and fabrications? ♦ A. Alhamduli’Llah wa’l-salatu wa’l-salamu ‘ala rasulillah. Before launching into a… Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, knowledge & learning, orthodoxy & ahl al-sunnah, theology

ahl al-Sunnah on Jesus and the Dajjal, etiquette of refutation culture, Hanbali position on ahad hadiths, Islamic ruling about rejecting the descent of jjesus during the End Days, Islamic ruling on denying a mutawatir hadith, peace be upon him, proofs for the return of Jesus, reality of tadlis in the hadith science, replying to the objection about Jesus’ return and fighting the Dajjal, scholarly consensus about Jesus’ return, status of al-Zuhri in Islam, tadlis and the mudallisun, was Imam al-Zuhri a mudallis?, what islam says about the second coming of Christ
November 26, 2020

Muslim Fitnah-Makers & their Fascist Fiqh!

This is a piece discussing how Muslims can be divided into three categories in terms of religious knowledge, and how the middle category is where much of the ummah’s woes and fitnahs spring from. And as counter-intuitive as it may sound, this middle problematic category are those that are commonly referred to as the more committed… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, correctives & clarifications, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, knowledge & learning, orthodoxy & ahl al-sunnah, salafism reconsidered

cannot impose your view on others in matters of ijtihad, differing in furu’ is a mercy for the ummah, imposing your view on others in ijtihad matters is bid‘ah, main source of internal fitnah for the ummah, no rebuking in matters of ijtihad, what is fascist fiqh?
November 14, 2020

Sacred Knowledge: Between Serious Seekers & Flippant Jokers

Now that certain objectionable practices have wiggled and wormed their way into the da‘wah – e.g. corporate attitudes which seems to put money first, the conscious use of comedy and tomfoolery, the culture of edutainment, the huge fees or honorariums that some charge for da‘wah, and an unhealthy celebrity culture which now surrounds certain speakers… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, short read

are we allowed to joke in the da‘wah?, calling to Allah requires serious people, Islamic knowledge becoming entertainment, money concerns in the da‘wah, Muslim preachers and teachers being frivolous
June 24, 2020

Is Din ‘Private’ Religion & Is Iman ‘Blind’ Faith?

This article revolves around three questions: (1) Does translating din as ‘religion’ imply that it is only a private matter, having nothing at all to do with the public sphere – which is what people usually associate with the term religion? (2) If iman is translated as ‘faith’, does that not suggest it is ‘blind… Continue reading

consider Islam, contemporary concerns, correctives & clarifications, da’wah & muslim apologetics, knowledge & learning, theology

is faith in Islam blind faith?, Is iman the same as faith?, Islam insists on reason-based faith, islam is not just va religion but a way of life, Islam the way of life, Islam’s theology insists we should believe by way of reflection, justification for God’s existence, meaning of din in Islam, meaning of iman in Islam, proofs for the existence of God
June 9, 2020

Kalam & the Hanbalis: Is It Really Relevant Today?

Often rendered into English as ‘theology’, ‘ilm al-kalam (or kalam, for short) is the science which establishes and elaborates upon matters of doctrine and belief. Because it depends upon reason-based arguments, it is ‘discursive’: hence ‘ilm al-kalam is sometimes referred to as discursive theology. In its more conjectural or philosophical form – a form where it… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, correctives & clarifications, hanbali fiqh, knowledge & learning, modernity & muslimness, orthodoxy & ahl al-sunnah, reason, religion, rationality, theology

Al-Ghazali on kalam, brief history of kalam in Islam, challenges of Muslim theologians today, contemporary issues in Islamic theology, difference between kalam and ‘aqidah, good books to critique modernity from traditional faith perspective, how a Muslim can best learn their ‘aqidah or beliefs?, Ibn Juzayy on kalam, Ibn Taymiyyah on kalam, is kalam relevant today?, Is the science of kalam obsolete today?, Islam and rationality, Islamic critiques of the post-modern secular world, proofs for God’s existence, questioning scientism, verifying the two premises of the kalam cosmological argument, what is the hanbali stance on kalam theology?, what is the kalam cosmological argument?, what relevancy does kalam have in the 21st century?
May 3, 2020

Muslim Scholars Must Learn To Be Macro Thinkers

Let me commence with the following: The sixteenth century French essayist and moralist, Michel de Montaigne, wrote in his famous Essays: ‘It could be said of me that in this book I have only made up a bunch of other men’s flowers, providing of my own only the string to tie them together.’ This, I should… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, modernity & muslimness

abdal hakim murad, Cambridge Muslim College, How can authentic Muslimness thrive in modernity, how social sciences discourse can manipulate Islamic discourse, Iskam, Islam and humanism, Islam and occasionalism, Islam and the need to understand modernity, Islamic macro thinking, Islamic pedagogy and madrassahs and modern curriculums, Islamic response to universe from nothing, Islamism and other such terms coopted by securitisation industry, Muslim macro theology, social welfare and humanism, updating curriculum in higher Islamic institutions
February 24, 2020

Guardians of Sacred Knowledge & Spiritual Growth

The core of this article centres on Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali’s discussion about the hadith that describes the three kinds of heart in respect to knowledge and guidance. Ibn Rajab also gives us a window into how revealed knowledge has been safeguarded for us – both its content and its meanings – throughout the ages, by… Continue reading

knowledge & learning, orthodoxy & ahl al-sunnah, sufism, suluk & spirituality

authentic knowledge of Islam, how islamic knowledge is preserved and authentically transmitted, how knowledge of Islam is preserved, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali explaining authentic Islam, Islamic orthodoxy is in following the trustworthy ones, status of the Companions in Islam, three types of heart in terms of knowledge and guidance
December 28, 2019

Are We Becoming Bored of God?

THIS IS AN OBSERVATION that may be limited to my tiny window of experience; and it is something I’ve been aware of since the early 1990s. Which is that we Muslims are ready and eager to read stuff about the nitty gritty points of fiqh and shari’ah law, yet as soon as discussing the actual Lawgiver… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, sufism, suluk & spirituality

al-Hasan al-Basri on being bored of worship, getting bored of God, God fatigue, how spiritual boredom shows itself, how to deepen knowledge of God, Islam on life’s true joy, knowledge and the three types of people, ma’rifah as knowledge internalised and experienced, spiritual boredom

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.