Islamic Spirituality - Essay Topics

This is my final teaching expedition. Here is my vast array of essay topics for students for the coming semester. I might add a few more yet! The students are second and third year undergrads studying Religious Studies as a broadening elective subject. The subject is wide open. It's called ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY 200/300. I've never taught this syllabus before. This is the one and only time the subject will be offered, so I've decided to give students the widest possible choice of essay assignment. Did I miss anything?


1. Jerusalem

Make a study of the place of Jerusalem and its sacred sites (the Furthest Mosque and the Dome of the Rock) in Islam and consider this in relation to contemporary disputes about the control of the city. Why did the early Muslims face Jerusalem, rather than Mecca, to pray? Consider the claims of the Muslims in relation to the claims of the Jews and Christians. What do you make of the so-called 'Third Temple' movement? Give some attention to the story of the 'Night Journey' of the Prophet and to the place of Jerusalem in the mystical life of Islam.

2. Mechanistic Prayer?

"The ceremonial character of the religion of the Musalmans is, in spite of its simplicity, carried to a pitch beyond the utmost demands either of Rome or of Russia...Prayer is reduced to a mechanical act as distinct from a mental act...it resembles the worship of machines rather than of reasonable beings."

Make a study of the Islamic understanding of prayer, comparing and contrasting with Christian understandings. You may, if you wish, make some reference to prayer in Judaism or other religions as well. What does each religion understand prayer to be?

3. The Green Man

Describe the place of the Green Man, al-Khidr, in Islamic spirituality. Explore traditions surrounding this figure. Do we find the same idea in other traditions?

4. Orientalism

Write an appreciation of the depictions of Islam by the so-called ‘Orientalist’ European artists in the 18th and 19th centuries. Discuss the proposition that this was the first time ever that Europeans looked upon Islam sympathetically. Your essay should also discuss the thesis of Edward Said in his famous book ‘Orientalism’. Does Said give a distorted, one-sided and resentful view of it?

5. Music

With particular reference to the Chisti Order of Sufis, make a study of the place of music in Islamic spiritual life. Why do some groups say that music is “haram” (forbidden)? Your essay should, in part, be an appreciation of Islamic spiritual music.

6. Hagar

Explore the place of the story of Hagar and Ishmael in Islamic spirituality. What does the story signify? Your essay should give some account of the symbolism of Hagar’s running between hills, and the story of the founding of the well of Zamzam. Do not treat these as historical stories; instead, what is the symbolic, cosmological and metaphysical significance of these things?

7. Ishmaili Islam

Make a study of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. Why do some Muslims not regard them as Muslims at all? What is the essential spiritual difference between the Ismailis and other Muslim groups?

8. Women, Perfume & Prayer

The Prophet loved three things: women, perfume and prayer. Discuss this as a theme in Islamic spirituality. What do “women, perfume and prayer” represent?

9. The Night of Power

Discuss the place of the ‘Night of Power’ during the fast of Ramadan in the mystical life of Islam.

10. Whirling Dervishes

Make a study of the spirituality of Rumi and the Mevlevi Sufi order or the so-called ‘Whirling Dervishes’. Why is Rumi the best selling poet in contemporary America? Describe the symbolism of the famous whirling dance. How does it work as a spiritual method?

11. The Occult

Discuss the role of Islam as 'Other' and "Shadow' in relation to Western culture with particular emphasis on Islamic elements in Western occultism. Many elements of Islamic civilization and spirituality were absorbed by the West through the agency of 'esoteric' associations and fraternities, or else they remained "dark' and sinister in the Western mind. Consider, for example, the Rosicrucian myths, or the infamous 'Necronomicon', or Aleister Crowley's 'Book of the Law' or other aspects of the occult in the West. How important is Islam (as Other, or Shadow) to the sociology and psychology and history of Western occultism?

12. Shahadah

‘There is no god but god.’ Analyse and discuss the depth of meaning in the Islamic Testimony of Faith, the Shahadah. Is it just an empty tautology? Why do Muslims regard it as profound and as containing all the secrets of Islam?

13. Christ in Islam

Closely examine the role and status of Christ in Islam and the Koranic critique of Christianity. Expose the main lines of doctrinal difference between the two religions. Give especial attention to the question of Unitarianism vs. Trinitarianism. Is God One or a Trinity of Persons, or both? Is there an orthodox perspective in either faith that transcends this most fundamental point of contention?

14. Sufism and Muslim Decline

It is sometimes argued by Muslims reflecting on the last few centuries of Islamic history that the reason Islamic civilization fell into decline and succumbed to Western colonialism was Islam's 'drift' into mysticism. The Sufis and mystics, it is argued, diverted the Muslim world into superstition and away from the maintenance of the essentials of civilization. On the strength of such arguments as this there has been a strong reaction against the Sufi brotherhoods in many parts of the Muslim world in recent times. Does Sufism belong to medieval Islam? What role does it have in modern Islam? Did Sufism contribute to the decline of Islam? Did al-Ghazzali make the wrong choice in championing the Sufis over the philosophers?

15. Sufi Tales

Select three or four Sufi teaching tales and explain what you take to be their spiritual significance. What is being taught? Are such stories really part of the Islamic religion, or are they better understood as reactions to and protests against Islamic orthodoxy?

16. Geometric Art

Creator of the heavens and the earth! When He decrees a thing He need only say 'Be!' and it is. (Holy Koran 2:117) Discuss Islamic geometric art in the light of this verse from the Koran. Is this Islamic art spiritual or is it just nice decoration?

17. Muslim/Christian Parallels

The Koran is to Islam what Christ is to Christians, and the Prophet Muhammad is to Islam what the Virgin Mary is to Christians. Discuss these parallels and comment on the proposition that all misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians start here.

18. Shia and Sunnis

Aside from the disputed claims to the leadership of the Ummah after the death of Muhammad, what are the main differences between Shia and Sunni Islamic spirituality? What deep, spiritual perspectives (rather than political differences) separate the two communities?

19. A Christian Heresy?

Christians have often portrayed Islam as a "heresy". What type of heresy? What is the basis for this portrayal? Explore the relationship between Islam's understanding of Jesus with that of various "heretical" forms of early Christianity. Consider the possibility that the Prophet Muhammad was influenced by various Christian sects in Arabia and/or Syria in the early years of his mission. What Christian influences was Muhammad under? What is the significance of the traditional stories that relate that a Nestorian monk was the first to acknowledge the young Muhammad as the long-awaited prophet?

20. Converts

Study written accounts of a diverse group of Western converts to Islam, such people, for example, as Michael Muhammad Knight (wrestler), Jemima Goldsmith (daughter of Jewish financier), Anthony Mundine (Australian boxer), Marmaduke Pickthall (novelist), Cat Stevens (pop musician), John Heirlihy (writer), Jeffery Lang (Professor of Mathematics), Colonel Donald S. Rockwell (poet), Michael Wolfe (journalist), Charles Le Gai Eaton (diplomat), Art Blakely (jazz musician), Pamela Taylor (science fiction writer), Wilfried Hofmann (social scientist), David Hicks (Australian mercenary) and others. Compare and contrast their experiences. Are there common factors in their personal stories? What difficulties do they encounter? What was lacking in their western/Christian background that they felt it necessary to convert to Islam? Which of them, do you think, makes the most convincing (complete or comfortable) Western Muslim?

21. The Maryamiyya

Investigate the origins, doctrines and legitimacy of the Sufi Order (tariqa) founded by the Swiss traditionalist and visionary Frithjof Schuon, the 'Maryamiyya' (originally the Alawiyya) giving consideration to the several controversies concerning this Order. Schuon, drawing upon his association with Rene Guenon, took on the role of 'Sheihk' in a branch of the Alawiyya Order. Then, in the 1960s, he claims that the Virgin Mary appeared to him and appointed him to a universal mission. Later, he moved to the United States where he had a close connection with tribes of American Indians. Find out what you can about the doctrines and practices of Schuon's 'Maryamiyya'. How 'traditional" is it? Does it depart from orthodox Sufism? Is it an example of a syncretic 'Western' or even 'New Age' style of Sufism?

22. Hijab

Explore the spiritual dimension of hijab or the veiling of women in Islam. Your essay should address theological and metaphysical issues more than sociological and political ones. Why is the feminine veiled? What does the veil symbolize? How is the feminine understood in Islamic spirituality?

23. The Hidden Imam

Explore the place of the Hidden Imam in Twelver Shia Islam and in Islam in general. What sort of spirituality follows from the doctrine of occultation?

24. First and Last: A Primordial Perspective

Consider the claim that the Islamic revelation is a both the last and the first revelation. What in Islam is “primordial”? How can it claim to be a return to the original, primordial religion of mankind?

25. Henri Corbin

With reference to the work of Henri Corbin, describe the place of the ‘Via Imaginativa’ (the path of the imagination) in Islamic (and especially Shi’ite) spirituality.

26. Isabelle Eberhardt and Feminist Converts

Why did early feminists like Isabelle Eberhardt convert to Islam? Why, in late 19th C. and early 20th C. photography, were “liberated” women depicted in “oriental” clothing? What is the connection between early feminism and Western perceptions of Islam?

27. Hadith

Write an appreciation of the Hadith literature of Islam as a body of spiritual guidance. What spiritual perspective welcomes a tradition that offers guidance on every detail of life, from how to pray to how to eat? What are some of the most profound and spiritual ahadith in your opinion? Your essay should give particular attention to the class of narrations called ‘hadith qudsi.’

28. Two Books

Read and review Frithjof Schuon's Understanding Islam along with S. H. Nasr's Ideals & Realities of Islam. Both works are considered among the best modern accounts of Islam written in European languages. What impressions of Islam do they leave you with? What aspects of Islam, as these writers present it, are most surprising to you? What work do you prefer, and why? (This topic does not require that you look at a wide range of resources. You can answer the topic adequately by just reading the two nominated texts.)

29. The Gospel of Barnabas

Make a study of the Islamic dimensions of the medieval Gospel of Barnabas. How much did the author(s) know about Islam? Your essay should discuss the identification of the Prophet Muhammad with the Paraclete from the Fourth Gospel.

30. Adam and Eve

According to Islamic legend, Adam and Eve met each other on Mount Arafat just outside of Mecca. Explore this and similar Islamic legends where Biblical stories are superimposed upon the Meccan landscape.

31. Michael Muhammad Knight

“He might be brash, provocative and offensive but people like Michael Muhammad Knight are stirring the roots of contemporary Islam, and that’s just what Islam needs right now.” Discuss. Is Knight just a self-promoting provocateur in search of headlines, or is he opening up new and legitimate dimensions of Islam spirituality?

32. The Mystic Letters

Examine the question of the meaning of the “mystic letters” with which many chapters (surahs) of the Koran commence. What spiritual significance is ascribed to these letters by the saints and sages of the Islamic tradition?

33. Slaves of God

In Islam believers are called ‘Slaves of God.’ Leaving aside the sociology and practice of slavery, examine the language and metaphor of slavery in Islamic spirituality. How can slavery be a spiritual state?

34. Seth Carney

“Seth Carney was just another self-important white guy presuming to tell Muslims how they should think and act.” Discuss.

35. The Kaaba

Make a study of the significance of the Kaaba in Islamic spirituality. What does the Kaaba symbolize? Why is it empty?

36. The Black Stone

Make a study of the history and significance of the black stone of Mecca in Islamic spirituality. What does it symbolize? Why are some contemporary groups hostile to it and urge pilgrims to Mecca not to touch it? Is the black stone a remnant of paganism?

37. The Night Journey

Make a study of the place of the Night Journey in Islamic spirituality. What are its precedents? Compare it, for example, to Jacob’s Ladder in Judaism. Outline the symbolism of the Buraq. Your study should include some account of the place of Jerusalem in the mystical life of Islam. Why did the early Muslims face Jerusalem, rather than Mecca, to pray?

38. American Groups

Make a study of one or more of the various Islamic “fringe” groups in the USA - the Nation of Islam, Moorish Temple, The Five Percenters, The International Submitters, and others. Are such groups best understood as symptomatic of racial tensions within American society or do they offer useful perspectives to Islam worldwide?

39. Fatima Zara

Giving a wider account of the place of the Divine Feminine in Islam, make a study of the place of Fatima Zara in the spiritual traditions of Shi’a Islam. Why is she called ‘Mother of Thy Father’? What does it mean?

40. Islam and Protestantism

"The rise of Islam was a shock from which Christianity never recovered. The challenge Islam posed to Christianity - doctrinally, politically, geographically, economically, culturally - disturbed Christianity to the roots. Christianity now had to adjust to a radically changed world. Its ultimate response was the Protestant Reformation. Protestantism, with its insistence on 'The Book', its rejection of an ordained priesthood and celibacy, its basis in a trading economy and its appeal to simplicity, fundamentals, and direct responsibility to God is a Christianity transformed - even if slowly and indirectly - by Islam." Discuss.

41. Muhammad and Ali

Discuss the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and the Imam Ali, especially in Shia Islam. Explain how the two figures are two functions of the one revelation.

42. God

'God is Most Great!' Compare and contrast the Islamic understanding of God (Allah) with that of other religious traditions, especially Christianity and Judaism. What are the main differences? Is the Islamic God so great that He becomes more of a mathematical abstraction than a God suitable for worship?










- Harper McAlpine Black