wealth & trade

September 19, 2018

Striving in Allah’s Path Through Our 9 to 5 Jobs

Q. I’m not the academic type, but I keep getting told how important gaining knowledge is in Islam. Some of my friends go to many of these religious weekend courses in their quest for knowledge, but that’s just not me. I have a husband and children who I’m devoted to, hold down a good job, Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, marriage, family, gender, short read, wealth & trade

in the path of Allah, Islam for the average Muslim, sincerity in seeking knowledge, what knowledge should I seek?
February 9, 2015

Zakat: Helping the Needy at Home or Just Abroad?

Thoughts that first cross the mind when it is suggested that zakat should be given at home in the UK, as well as abroad, is: foolish; nonsensical; totally irresponsible; utter ignorance; unIslamic, even! After all, who in Britain is truly poor or needy compared to, say, the millions of people in Malawi, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and other parts Continue reading

contemporary concerns, ethics & morals, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, pillars of religious practice, wealth & trade

categories of zakat recpients, giving zakat in the U.K., huquq Allah wa huquq al-‘ibad, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Islam and charity, Shah Wali Allah, zakah to Muslims in Britain
September 4, 2012

‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: See[k]ing God in the Shopping Mall

In our second visit to the discourses of the saintly shaykh, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (the first outing may be read here), we find him discussing the issue of going to the market place: or, in our time, the shopping mall. While it is beyond doubt that markets and commerce have played a critical role in Muslim Continue reading

sufism, suluk & spirituality, wealth & trade

Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, buying & selling, markets, trade in Islam

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.

wealth & trade

Striving in Allah’s Path Through Our 9 to 5 Jobs

Zakat: Helping the Needy at Home or Just Abroad?

‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: See[k]ing God in the Shopping Mall