yearning for God

May 18, 2013

Hunger Games & Harmful Hopes

Poetry, it is said, is ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful meanings.’ The following poem is no exception. For the poem speaks of a love beyond earthly love; of a deep yearning for what may soothe our sorrows. Though not at all religious, believers may uncover in the poem powerful symbols of religious sentiment: seekeing, yearning and a love sublimer than any Continue reading

consider Islam, poetry, limericks, literature, short read

emptiness of materialism, human fulfilment, Islam and poetry, Shelly, yearning for God
February 23, 2013

Doing Good for God or Reward from God?

One famous hadith teaches us this prayer of ardent longing: ‘O God I ask You for the delight of gazing at Your Face and the ardent yearning to meet You (allahumma inni as’aluka ladhdhatu’l-nazar ila wajhika wa’l-shawqa ila liqa’ika).’1 ♦ Most Muslims satisfy themselves with the outward form and practices religion offers. They know that submission Continue reading

sufism, suluk & spirituality

degrees of worship, gazing at the face of God, inner realities of faith, love for God, the esoteric path of Islam, the Face of God, yearning for God

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.

yearning for God

Hunger Games & Harmful Hopes

Doing Good for God or Reward from God?