It’s not just the sin but the way that you sin it

May 8, 2018

Satan’s Deceit, Adam’s Slip & the Tree of Immortality

This read starts with the question: Does it matter how one sins? To answer it, it explores the deeper layers of the story of Adam, Satan and the divine command to not eat from the Tree of Immortality, in order to understand why it is that at the end of the story Adam is bathed Continue reading

heart matters, prophetology, qur’an, tafsir, tadabbur, short read, sirah & sacred history, sufism, suluk & spirituality

Are God’s prophets infallible?, It’s not just the sin but the way that you sin it, story of Adam and Iblis, story of Adam and Satan, Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah on sins, The Prophet Adam’s love for God, true lovers of God, Why did Adam eat from the Tree of Life?

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.

It’s not just the sin but the way that you sin it

Satan’s Deceit, Adam’s Slip & the Tree of Immortality