The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

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?
October 14, 2021

‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: On the Path to Allah in a Nutshell

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali opens his biography of the venerable saintly scholar, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, with this highly profound and glowing tribute: ‘The worldly renuncient (al-zahid), shaykh of the age, exemplar of the knowers [of Allah] (qudwat al-‘arifin), sultan of the shaykhs, master of the people of the path in his time (sayyid ahl al-tariqah fi Continue reading

short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

al-Jilani the hanbali scholar, life of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, saintly miracles of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
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
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?
August 1, 2021

Contentment: Software of the Soul

In a very short, yet highly instructive passage, the venerable Hanbali jurist and saintly scholar, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, said: لَا بُدَّ لِكُلِّ مُؤْمِنٍ فِي سَائِرِ أَحْوَالِهِ مِنْ ثَلَاثَةِ أَشْيَاءَ : أَمْرٌ يَمْتَثِلُهُ، وَنَهْيٌ يَجْتَنِبُهُ، وَقَدْرٌ يَرْضَى بِهِ. فَأَقَلُّ حَالَةِ الْمُؤْمِنِ لَا يَخْلُو فِيهَا مِنْ أَحَدِ هَذِهِ الْأَشْيَاءِ الثَّلَاثَةِ، فَيَنْبَغِي لَهُ أَنْ يَلْزَمَ هَمَّهَا قَلْبُهُ، وَلِيُحَدِّثَ Continue reading

heart matters, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality

discourses of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, first discourse of Jilani, Ibn Taymiyyah on Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Jilani on contentment, meaning of contentment, meaning of rida bi’l-qada
July 25, 2021

Islam’s Evolution Question

Is Islam’s account of Man’s origin true, or has the Theory of Evolution shown it to be false? This article takes Evolution’s core mainstream claims and inspects them in the light of orthodox Muslim theology. In doing so, we will come to see that the Islamic view on Evolution isn’t one of wholesale rejection (as is often assumed), Continue reading

contemporary concerns, correctives & clarifications, da’wah & muslim apologetics, science & religion, theology

How do Muslims square the fossil record with Islam?, Is evolution just a theory?, Is the Quranic story of Adam a metaphor?, is theistic evolution in agreement with Islam?, what does Islam say about evolution?
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?

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.