How do we respond to a world full of suffering and injustice while staying connected to love? Join Sufi scholar Omid Safi to explore the deep spiritual call to share in our common humanity and confront the pain and polarization around us. Omid challenges us to examine our biases—who do we believe is sacred?—and to recognize the interconnectedness of all life. We’ll discuss the role of sacred rage, the balance between contemplation and action, and how prayer alone is not enough. Omid also offers profound insights on personal suffering, showing us how witnessing, silence, and gentleness can transform our pain into deeper love. Whether you’re on the frontlines of justice or navigating your own trials, this conversation will inspire you to engage the world with both heart and courage.

Speaker bio: Omid Safi is a teacher in the Islamic tradition of Radical Love. Omid’s passion for teaching has been recognized through the ten times that he has been nominated for professor of the year awards. He serves as a professor at Duke University specializing in Islamic spirituality and contemporary thought. A leading Muslim public intellectual, Omid is committed to the intersection of spirituality and social justice. Omid has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. His Memories of Muhammad is a biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition (published by Yale). Omid is also deeply committed to liberationist prophetic traditions in the legacy of Martin Luther King, Rabbi Heschel, and Malcolm X. He has been invited by the family of Dr. King to speak at Ebenezer Church on the relevance of Dr. King for today’s America, and has delivered the Martin Luther King keynote in the annual national MLK service. Omid often appears as an expert on Islam in the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, PBS, NPR, NBC, BBC, CNN and other outlets. He has a podcast (“Sufi Heart”) at Be Here Now. His Illuminated Tours have taken more than a 1,000 friends from over twenty countries to Turkey and Morocco since 2002, and he is now offering Illuminated Courses for online offerings on spiritual traditions open to seekers of all backgrounds.