What if some of the practices we associate with modern spirituality have much longer histories in the Muslim world?

This week, I'm joined by content creator, educator, and one of my favorite people to learn from on the internet, Shaif (@hotboyshaif), to ask: What do Islam + modern spirituality have in common?

We get into the histories of astrology, crystals, spirit possession, Sufism, and other practices that complicate the distinctions we often make between Islam and modern spirituality. But we also spend a lot of time thinking about a question at the heart of Religious Studies: What makes something a religion in the first place?

Shaif shares why he prefers to think about Islam as a living tradition and a way of life rather than simply a religion. We talk about the colonial histories of the category of religion, why I think we need better language than “cult,” and how colonialism, reform movements, and globalization have shaped what many of us now understand as Islam.

And, of course, we get into Muslimness. Who gets to decide what makes someone a “real Muslim”? What happens when the Islam you inherited doesn't look like the Islam someone else insists is authentic? And how might studying the history of your own tradition actually deepen your relationship to it?

One of my favorite parts of our conversation is thinking about how much of what gets dismissed as “cultural Islam” is part of a much longer history of Muslim spiritual and intellectual life. And what possibilities open up when we understand traditions as living, changing, and continuously being made.

Chapters

00:36 — Where Are You Finding Grounding?

5:14 — Islam & Modern Spirituality

13:48 — On the Word 'Cult'

22:08 — Black Muslims Labeled a 'Cult'

24:26 — Response to the Videos

36:47 — Hadith & Debate in Islam

44:29 — 'You're Not a Real Muslim'

59:19 — Where to Find Shaif

References

Anidjar, Gil. “Secularism.” Critical Inquiry 33, no. 1 (Autumn 2006): 52–77.

Asad, Talal. “The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam.” Qui Parle 17, no. 2 (2009): 1–30.

Kugle, Scott Siraj al-Haqq. Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2010.

McCloud, Sean. Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955–1993. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Find + Support Shaif

Shaif (@hotboyshaif) is a New York based content creator, educator, and 12th-grade history teacher with a background in Religious Studies. His public-facing educational content explores Islamic history, spirituality, cultural commentary, and popular culture.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotboyshaif/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hotboyshaif