The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

Ibn al-Qayyim on the three essential restraints for spirituality

April 18, 2024

The Journey Starts from the Outside-In

WE READ IN the Holy Qur’an: Assuredly, Allah loves those who turn to Him in repentance, and those who strive to purify themselves. [Q.2:222] Given that the context of the verse is about women’s menstruation, the first thing included in the idea of purification, or taharah, is purification of the body from physical and ritual… Continue reading

heart matters, sufism, suluk & spirituality

four types of taharah, how to purify the soul, Ibn al-Qayyim on the three essential restraints for spirituality, Ibn Qudamah on the four levels of purification, practical purification, practical tazkiyah, tazkiyah starts from the outside-in

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.

Ibn al-Qayyim on the three essential restraints for spirituality

The Journey Starts from the Outside-In