Teaching Islamic Spirituality Through the Lens of Chaplaincy
This semester, I have the privilege of teaching Islamic Spirituality to a group of master’s and doctoral students. As I prepare each class session, I find myself asking a question that has become increasingly important to me over the years: What does this mean for chaplaincy?
What Chaplains Can Learn From Islamic Spirituality
Islamic spirituality is a rich field filled with profound concepts, beautiful language, and centuries of reflection on the human relationship with the Divine. Students encounter ideas such as the heart (qalb), divine light (nur), the Muhammadan model, remembrance (dhikr), certainty (yaqin), the Covenant of Alast, and the inner meanings of the Qur’an. These concepts are intellectually fascinating. Yet, I do not want chaplaincy students to leave the classroom merely with a deeper understanding of Sufi terminology or spiritual theories.
Instead, I encourage them to ask: What can a chaplain learn from this? How might this shape the way we accompany another human being?
In many professions, education is often understood as acquiring tools. We learn a skill, place it in our professional toolbox, and use it when needed. Chaplaincy certainly requires skills and competencies. Yet, I believe true spiritual formation demands something much deeper.
The goal is not simply to add more tools to a chaplain’s bag. The goal is to become the kind of person for whom these insights have become part of one’s character, presence, and way of being.
A chaplain does not become effective simply because they know when to deploy a concept from Islamic spirituality. A chaplain becomes effective when those teachings have fundamentally shaped how they see people, how they understand suffering, how they listen, and how they remain present in moments of deep vulnerability.
In other words, the goal is not merely to have the tools. The goal is to become the tool.
The examples that follow come from a single class session on Islamic spirituality and represent only a small sample of the conversations that take place throughout the semester. Whether we are discussing the Qur’an and the Prophet, the stations and states of the spiritual path, spiritual disciplines, suffering and meaning-making, the refinement of character, or the nature of the self, I consistently invite students to view the material through the lens of chaplaincy. The aim is not to create occasional connections between Islamic spirituality and spiritual care, but to help students recognize that these connections are woven throughout the tradition itself.
1. Zāhir and Bātin: Listening on Multiple Levels
One profound example comes from the distinction between the outer meaning (zāhir) and the inner meaning (bātin). We discussed in class how this principle can completely transform pastoral listening.
A patient may speak about a medical diagnosis. A student may talk about academic failure. A family member may express anger. These are the zāhir, the outer stories. Yet beneath them often lie deeper, unspoken realities: fear, grief, loneliness, guilt, hope, longing, or a search for ultimate meaning.
A chaplain shaped by this spiritual insight learns to listen on multiple levels. The conversation is no longer only about what is being said. It is about what the soul may be trying to express beneath the words.
2. The Covenant of Alast: Remembering the Primordial Connection
Another discussion focused on the Covenant of Alast: the Qur’anic moment when humanity responded to God, “Yes, indeed, You are our Lord” (Qur’an 7:172). This theme led us to consider a fundamental assumption in spiritual care: What if every person already possesses an innate, primordial relationship with the Divine, even if it has become obscured by pain, trauma, distraction, or doubt?
If that is true, the chaplain’s role shifts dramatically. We are not bringing God to a space where He is absent; rather, we are helping the individual remember a relationship that already exists within them. Spiritual care thus becomes an act of sacred accompaniment and remembrance (tadhkir), rather than instruction or correction.
3. The Qalb: Attending to the Deepest Center
A third discussion centered on the concept of the heart (qalb). In healthcare settings, universities, prisons, and military contexts, chaplains frequently encounter circumstances where solutions are simply unavailable. We cannot remove a terminal diagnosis, reverse a death, or erase a painful past.
The Sufi understanding of the heart reminds us that spiritual care is not primarily about solving worldly problems. It is about attending to the deepest spiritual center of the person. Sometimes, the most transformative work happens not when outward circumstances change, but when the qalb finds a new way to encounter and rest within those circumstances.
The Transformation of Presence
This is why I believe Islamic spirituality has so much to offer the field of chaplaincy. Its greatest contribution is not a collection of techniques; it is a way of seeing.
It teaches us to look beyond appearances, to trust that every human being carries a sacred depth, and to recognize that spiritual care is ultimately about the transformation of presence before it is the transformation of circumstance.
As I tell my students throughout the semester, the most vital question to carry into every discussion is this:
How might this insight change the way we accompany another human being?
When that question begins to shape our learning, Islamic spirituality ceases to be merely an academic subject. It becomes a profound source of formation for the chaplain we are becoming.