The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

rationalisation and Islam

October 25, 2021

Modernity in Seven Bite Size Pieces & How It Impacts Faith (1/2)

‘Modernity is the transition from fate to choice.’ – Jonathan Sacks ‘Modernity is a deal. The entire contract can be summarised in a single phrase: humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power.’ – Yuval Noah Harari ‘The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness, technology & social change

difference between modern societies and traditional societies, modernity and Islam, modernity’s effect on Islam, modernity’s impact on religion, rationalisation and Islam, secularisation and Islam, traditional Islamic societies encounter with modernity, what is modernity?

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.

rationalisation and Islam

Modernity in Seven Bite Size Pieces & How It Impacts Faith (1/2)