The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

blasphemy in Islam

January 21, 2015

While We Question Charlie, Let’s Question Ourselves Too!

While righteous anger when the Prophet ﷺ is mocked or insulted is integral to faith, we Muslims need to invest greater efforts into adhering to the actual obligations and duties instated by faith – be it in our acts or worship; our ethics and behaviour; our relationships; or our social contracts and transactions. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘All my followers… Continue reading

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

blasphemy in Islam, cartoons of the Prophet, Charlie Hebdo, Charlie Hebdo double-standards, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, islamophobia, Muslim extremists, Paris murders, vilification of European Muslims

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.

blasphemy in Islam

While We Question Charlie, Let’s Question Ourselves Too!