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The Humble I

The Humble I

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difference between kalam and ‘aqidah

  • 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?

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. 

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