The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

shariah reforms

July 13, 2016

5 Cornerstones of Islam’s Bigger Picture

What follows are five cornerstones that lie at the heart of Islam’s bigger picture of life. They concern: (i) What is life’s higher purpose? (ii) Who has the right to our ultimate love and loyalty? (iii) The obligation of faithfully keeping covenants and contracts, (iv) Loving the sacred law and thanking the Lawgiver, (v) Fatwas: between… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, theology

contracts and covenants in Islam, Ibn al-Qayyim on hiylah, Ibn Hamdan al-Hanbali, Ibn Hamdan on when fatwa cannot be given, Ibn Qudamah on the covenant of security, Islam and the covenant of security, principle of ease in Islam, purpose behind Islamic law, purpose of life in Islam, rukhsah and azimah, rules of fatwa, shariah reforms, taysir in shariah

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.

shariah reforms

5 Cornerstones of Islam’s Bigger Picture