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Learning Conversation


May 13, 2023

20 min

Hold the presses!  

Pierre knows what he’s talking about? Wait! What?  

Well, let’s qualify that.  Pierre knows what he wants to talk about.  We’re not saying Pierre actually knows what he is talking about. Let’s be clear about that! 

Pierre wants to talk about a book:  Radical Love, by Omid Safi.  

The book was given to Pierre by his good friend Manish. Hat tip to  Manish with a riff on his special friendship. 

The book, Radical Love, is a compilation of poems from Sufi mystics.  You may have heard a few of the authors' names:  Rumi, Hafiz, etc.  Omid Safi introduces their poems in a new light stemming from an approach to Islam which involves a single-minded focus on God, to the exclusion of all else. Hence the title:  Radical Love.

At the center of Islam, according to these mystics is God; and God is love. By stripping away human, material, and differentiated things and ideas, one can see God according to these mystics. The introduction by author Omid Safi provides the religious context of the poetry as well as biographical information on the poet authors.

Pierre and Maureen explore the book, sometimes reading poems (10-20 words long) with a back and forth question asking and answering that hopefully piques your interest in finding this book. .  

While Riverdance and whirling dervishes make a brief appearance, this podcast mostly focuses on the poetry that seeks to illuminate a path to God.  Check it out:  Radical Love.  

This book might just plant a seed for thinking about life and Islam differently.  Omid Safi is a professor at Duke University who also teaches spiritual courses through Illuminated Courses.  He also leads yearly educational and spiritual tours through Turkey, Morocco and other countries.  Check him out.

Peace through grace, my friends.  Peace through grace.