THE APPLIED SPIRITUALITY PROJECT
What is “Applied” Spirituality?
There is consensus among Muslim scholars that it is an individual obligation on every believer to purify their heart, develop their character, and seek conformity with the inner Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
The method of achieving this state was theorized in the science variously termed ihsan, tazkiya, tasawwuf - whatever the name, its reality remains the same. Within this science, experts developed diverse approaches and methods for spiritual refinement and debated its associated experiences and pitfalls. Nonetheless, there is a core unifying thread at the bedrock of the beating heart of Islam, which is what I refer to as “applied spirituality.”
Applied spirituality is a life-long commitment to self-scrutiny, character development, and worshipful devotion that yields increasing degrees of nearness to Allah.
The core tenets of spirituality are best captured in the apt metaphor frequently used in this tradition that analogizes the care of the soul to the care of the physical body.
Just as our ‘outward form’ (khalq) is shaped by our diet and exercise, our ‘inward form’ (khuluq) is likewise shaped by its “diet” of spiritual nourishment (ʿilm) and ongoing spiritual exertion (mujahada).
Why an Applied Spirituality?
In today’s English-language educational landscape, we have many resources to learn about our spiritual tradition. These range from in-person intensives to online courses and translated texts, in addition to diverse spiritual communities and circles of learning and remembrance.
I have benefited from and continue to contribute to these resources and communities. However, I am also becoming increasingly concerned about aspects of the dominant approaches to spiritual learning and community that I believe present serious challenges to our communities.
Excessive Focus on the Theoretical
We tend to make knowledge an end in itself, leading to a preoccupation with gaining knowledge at the expense of personal introspection about how that knowledge applies to ourselves and our communities today. While theories of the experiential dimensions of nearness to God can equip us with helpful tools and inspire our pursuit, this must not replace doing the hard work of disciplining our ego, rectifying our character, and forming personal habits of daily devotions.
Poor Adaptation of Spiritual Teachings to Modern Realities
The spiritual tradition we have inherited was developed in and for people, places, and times markedly different from our own. Its written texts also operate with unspoken premises, assume background knowledge, and employ conventions lost on an uninitiated reader. When we read spiritual texts in a contextual vacuum, we can feel confused or discouraged. We may even consider the teachings irrelevant, impossible, or even harmful. When classical sources are not sufficiently situated in their historical contexts or explained in a way that distinguishes the timeless from the context-bound teachings, we might implement spiritual teachings that are ineffective or even harmful for our spiritual growth, or popularize and institutionalize practices that harm others in the community.
Belonging and Exclusion in Spiritual Communities
Belonging to a spiritual community can be very rewarding and can positively contribute to our development. But it can also produce secondary problems. Socially, these problems include cultures promoting cult-like behaviors, exclusionary practices, and conduct that causes spiritual harm or abuse. Even when these pitfalls are avoided, membership in a spiritual community can give the ego a false sense of superiority or reassurance that leads us to absolve ourselves rather than take greater responsibility for our character, behavior, and development.
The Applied Spirituality Project is a long-term and constructive contribution for spiritual learning and development that seeks to avoid these pitfalls and translates our spiritual teaching through an adaptive and responsive approach that addresses our needs today.
PRINCIPLES OF APPLIED SPIRITUALITY
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Grounded in tradition
I draw on my extensive experience and immersion for over two decades in Islam’s spiritual teachings. This has included close companionship with spiritual guides, personal experience in diverse spiritual communities, intensive study and review of spiritual texts with subject masters, personal reading of hundreds of books, over a decade of teaching Islamic spirituality in formal and informal communities - online, in person, and in university classrooms, and insights from my own ongoing spiritual journey.
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Empowering believers to grow, discern and flourish
Our goal is to provide believers with the confidence and tools they need to take ownership of their spiritual growth. It also imparts a critical framework for individuals to distinguish between Islamically legitimate and illegitimate teachings and practices, as well as teachings and practices that best serve them at their current stage of life and development.
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Adapting and applying knowledge to meet our needs
Implementing Islam’s spiritual tradition for everyday practice by identifying knowledge and practices most relevant for us today and adapting them effectively to address real-world challenges. This requires an iterative discussion and case-study-based approach, and a commitment to an ongoing, life-long inquiry into the evolving state of the self and best practices for its rectification.
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Traveling and growing in and through community
Allah gives insights and experiences to diverse hearts. We are all enriched by engaging with the various insights and proposed solutions to shared problems from members of our community. Our spiritual aspiration (himma) is intensified and sustained by traveling together; working on our hearts in community enables us to grow collectively, rather than just as fragmented alienated individuals.
Applied Spirituality Thematic Areas
The Applied Spirituality programming is organized into six core areas, each of which draws on the oceans of the ummah’s spiritual knowledge and contemplation of the Quran, Sunnah, and spiritual experience.
Available Applied Spirituality Courses
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What is Sufism?
Why is there so much controversy around the teachings and practices of Sufism? And what role does Sufism continue to play in contemporary Muslim life? Explore the historical origins of Sufism in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and how it evolved and contributed to diverse societies throughout Islamic history.
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The Theology of Supplication
Maybe we’ve prayed and prayed for something, but still await a response. ‘Should I even bother to keep asking after so long? Maybe it’s not meant to happen and I should just stop,’ we might conclude. Or maybe our uneasy relationship with dua is because of the many, seemingly contradictory, teachings we’ve heard about it. We may wonder: does dua change Allah’s decree (qadar) for us? What does it mean for a dua to be “accepted”?
