This academic semester I’m teaching an undergraduate seminar on Islamic spirituality, which draws on both Muslim and non-Muslim experts of the history and theory of the subject. I’m grateful for the incredible privilege of having a career that allows me to spend an entire semester discussing Islamic spirituality with curious young adults from diverse backgrounds. At the same time, as a Muslim, I’m reminded that my expertise in the theoretical dimension of spirituality brings me no closer to the desired end of the science itself.

“Moral-spiritual excellence (Ihsan) is to worship God as if you see Him, for even if you do not see Him, He sees you.” [Bukhari]

This statement from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ succinctly captures the aim of Islam’s tradition of spiritual development and directs each of us to deepen our outward devotion through awakening inwardly to Allah’s nearness. The entirety of Islam’s spiritual teachings and practices are in service of guiding believers to reach this state of ihsan, one of constant awareness and presence with Allah.

Concerns About Our Current Context

We’re fortunate to have many available resources to learn about our spiritual tradition. These range from retreats and in-person learning 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 spaces, yet, I’m increasingly concerned about aspects of the dominant approaches to spiritual learning and community development. 

Concern 1: Excessive focus on the theoretical.  

We tend to make knowledge an end in itself, leading to a preoccupation with gathering information at the expense of personal introspection about how that knowledge applies to ourselves and our communities today. While theories of spiritual development and contemplation of the experiential dimensions of nearness to God can equip us with helpful tools and inspire our pursuit, this cannot replace doing the hard work of disciplining our ego, rectifying our character, and forming personal habits of daily devotions.

Concern 2: Poor adaptation of historically situated spiritual teachings to present realities.

The spiritual tradition we have inherited was developed in and for times, places, and people markedly different from our own. Its texts also operate with unspoken premises, assume background knowledge, and employ genre conventions lost on the 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.

Concern 3: Identity politics surrounding belonging to, or exclusion from, 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.

An Applied Spirituality Project

I laid the groundwork for addressing some of these concerns in my course What is Sufism? A Guide to the History, Teachings, and Debates of Islamic Spirituality, in which I trace the entire arc of the history of Islamic spirituality, from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to the present. 

I’ve also developed an approach for spiritual learning and development that seeks to avoid these pitfalls and translates our spiritual teaching in an approach and idiom that is responsive to our needs today - The Applied Spirituality Project.

Applied Spirituality is a lifelong commitment to self-scrutiny, character development, and worshipful devotion that yields increasing degrees of nearness to Allah. It emphasizes the practical implementation of spiritual teachings, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to actionable steps and embodied practices for personal growth.

A striking realization gained through my long study of the history of Islam’s spiritual tradition is how it is continuously renewed in every generation. This renewal (tajdīd) entails conveying teachings in a language, form, and mode of expression specific to its audience, curating spiritual and devotional practices according to their needs, capacities, and receptivity. 

Equally important is the scholarly work of sifting through the received heritage to shed problematic elements. This is why we find diverse spiritual approaches, discourses, and institutions across Muslim history; they all seek to find the most effective method for fulfilling the goal of developing hearts and minds in congruity with the inward Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in their particular time and place. 

Concerns About Our Current Context

Using a thematic curriculum that is designed to offer a comprehensive and scholarly understanding of our spiritual tradition, I will be providing programs and resources in six thematic areas that equip individuals to explore their inward experience, refine their character, and increase in their devotional practices, incrementally growing in nearness to Allah and becoming of greater service to their communities.

My new Ramadan course Establishing Devotional Habits, in Ramadan and Beyond explores developing habitual devotional practices while fulfilling other responsibilities in fluctuating seasons of the year and stages of life. The course sits alongside a growing suite of Applied Spirituality courses on topics ranging from the History of Sufism to The Theology of Dua, and free available lectures on such themes as Cultivating Prophetic Character and Contemplating the Divine Names.

My hope is that the Applied Spirituality Project will enable us to get beyond the theoretical teachings of spiritual development to ourselves embody them through refined characters and deeper devotion and awareness of our Lord, and to produce communities around spiritual development that are inclusive and accessible, and in which our spiritual teachings are intelligible and responsive to our personal and collective needs.

What does Applied Spirituality mean to you?

I’d love to hear from you about what an applied spirituality means for your life. Share your feedback below.