modernity & muslimness

November 2, 2023

Seeing the World with a Prophetic Eye

IF WE MUSLIMS aren’t to share in modernity’s despair or unhappiness, if we wish to prise ourselves from this web of distraction, we need to see the world with a critical prophetic perspective. This perspective is one that wants us to marvel at Allah’s creation and be filled with a sense of awe and thanks Continue reading

modernity & muslimness, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

consumerism and Islam, dunya distraction, faith-based seeing, zuhd
February 27, 2023

Clothes that Scream Attention!

ONE HADITH STATES: ‘Whoever dresses in clothes of attracting attention (shuhrah, lit. ‘fame’) in this life, Allah shall clothe him in garbs of humiliation on the Day of Resurrection.’1 The way we dress can and often does, therefore, have to do with the inward state of our souls. We are told in the scholarly commentaries Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, ethics & morals, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, hanbali fiqh, modernity & muslimness

bid’ah in dress, clothes forbidden to Muslim men, dress of a Muslim man, Muslim dress code, Muslim dress must be dignified, Muslim guide to dress, Muslim mens’ dress
May 25, 2022

Crisis in the Trust of Muslim Scholars

LET ME START with this statistic: By 2050, it’s predicted Muslims will be as high as 18% of Britain’s total population, rather than the 4.5% that they currently are. With such numbers, this alone imposes on us the urgent task of evolving a socially and politically relevant, and theologically-authentic, set of leadership challenges that are Continue reading

activism, contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, politics & society

are Muslim scholars selling-out?, can Muslim social media influencers be Muslim community leaders?, Fitnah of the practicing Muslim, government scholars, how can we restore trust in our ulama, state-controlled Islam, state-written Friday sermons, trust in muslim scholars
February 13, 2022

Is Today’s Islam a Failure or Success Story?

ONE COULD ARGUE that Islam, despite what we are being led to believe, is actually a modern success story. Now this might sound strange to some, perhaps to many. So let me explain: No doubt, media portrayals are negative, dark and gloomy. And of course, events around the world involving Muslims, or at least the Continue reading

contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, short read

Conversion rates in Islam, How well is Islam doing in modernity?, Is contemporary I?slam successful, Is Islam in crisis?, Islam and inculturation
December 8, 2021

Modernity & Compulsory Schooling: the Theft of Children’s Minds?

‘We don’t need no education We don’t need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the class room Teachers leave them kids alone Hey teachers leave them kids alone! All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.’ [Pink Floyd, Brick in the Wall] IN 1800 ONLY five percent of Britain had any formal Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, modernity & muslimness

A true Islamic education, goal of compulsory schooling, is schooling stealing our children’s minds?, loss of meaning in learning, nature of state schooling, schooling must be more than just about grades and exams, what Muslim schooling must avoid
November 14, 2021

Happiness: Modernity’s Official Religion

UNTIL THE AMERICAN Declaration of Independence gave us the notion of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, people didn’t believe happiness was something that needed to be made into a specific right that they then had the ‘liberty’ to pursue. Instead, pursuing happiness is hard wired into our DNA. Its pursuit is instictive to Continue reading

contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, technology & social change

Happiness and Islam, how much is happiness in our control?, Science of happiness, should happiness be life’s main goal?, ultimate happiness in Islam, wrong ways to pursue happiness
October 25, 2021

Modernity in Seven Bite Size Pieces & How It Impacts Faith (1/2)

‘Modernity is the transition from fate to choice.’ – Jonathan Sacks ‘Modernity is a deal. The entire contract can be summarised in a single phrase: humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power.’ – Yuval Noah Harari ‘The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither Continue reading

contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, technology & social change

difference between modern societies and traditional societies, modernity and Islam, modernity’s effect on Islam, modernity’s impact on religion, rationalisation and Islam, secularisation and Islam, traditional Islamic societies encounter with modernity, what is modernity?
September 27, 2021

Transhumanism, Homo Rapiens & Modern Muslimness

This is another article where I attempt to address some themes and dilemmas of modern Muslimness. Like previous outings, this too is less a coherent article and more a cluster of thoughts or ruminations tied together by the theme of searching for Muslim authenticity in a post-modern, post-monotheistic age. ♦ Our primary legitimation for living Continue reading

contemporary concerns, environment & earth ethics, modernity & muslimness, short read, technology & social change

an Islamic response to the environmental catastrophe, Islam and economic degrowth, Islam and futurology, Islam and global climate change, Islamic critique of our current capitalist economy, Muslim inculturation, Muslim intellectual responses to modernity, Muslim theologians must be futurists, technology’s impact on religious faith, transhumanism and Islam
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
August 25, 2020

Rethinking Our Da‘wah in Post-Monotheistic Britain

Given that the knowledge the ‘ulema and du‘at teach and convey is sacred, majestic and noble: That this is indeed a noble Qur’an [Q.57:77], then they too are expected to exemplify nobility and dignity in terms of character and how they carry themselves. The message is noble, its carriers must be noble too. It’s as short and Continue reading

activism, consider Islam, contemporary concerns, da’wah & muslim apologetics, modernity & muslimness

avoiding da‘wah dramas and cultivating sincere concern, between tabshir and tahdhir, da‘wah to Allah not ego, dawn in the British context, inviting atheists and humanists to Islam, pillars of da‘wah in atheistic Britain, rules of da‘wah in today’s society, the call to tabshir and taysir, what should be our focus of da‘wah in Britain?, wisdom in da‘wah in a post-religious British context

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.