The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

what Muslim schooling must avoid

December 8, 2021

Modernity & Compulsory Schooling: the Theft of Children’s Minds?

‘We don’t need no education We don’t need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the class room Teachers leave them kids alone Hey teachers leave them kids alone! All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.’ [Pink Floyd, Brick in the Wall] IN 1800 ONLY five percent of Britain had any formal… Continue reading

contemporary concerns, knowledge & learning, modernity & muslimness

A true Islamic education, goal of compulsory schooling, is schooling stealing our children’s minds?, loss of meaning in learning, nature of state schooling, schooling must be more than just about grades and exams, what Muslim schooling must avoid

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.

what Muslim schooling must avoid

Modernity & Compulsory Schooling: the Theft of Children’s Minds?