dunya as distraction

January 11, 2014

Are We Amusing Our Hearts to Death?

One hadith states: ‘Laugh not too much; for too much laughter deadens the heart.’1 This isn’t to say that laughter or humour must be avoided altogether; for laughter and light-heartedness, in moderation, are prophetic Sunnahs that helps lighten burdens, ease anxiety and bring about joy to oneself and to others. Indeed, there is little virtue in Continue reading

ethics & morals, heart matters, modernity & muslimness, politics & society, short read, sufism, suluk & spirituality, technology & social change

amusing ourselves to death, benefits and harms of laughter, brainwashed by tv, dunya as distraction, entertainment, media distractions, recollecting the Afterlife, remembering death, remembrance of God
March 9, 2013

Big Brother: Who Watches Who?

During the first half of the twentieth century, many books were written which warned about the dangers of giving the state control over new and powerful technologies. The nightmare visions of society these books conjured up have left an indelible mark upon our collective consciousness and subsequent social and historical development. George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldoux Continue reading

modernity & muslimness, poetry, limericks, literature, politics & society, short read

1984, Big Brother, consumerism, dunya as distraction, huxley, Orwell

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.

dunya as distraction

Are We Amusing Our Hearts to Death?

Big Brother: Who Watches Who?