Sufi Heart with Omid Safi

By: Be Here Now Network
  • Summary

  • The Sufi Heart podcast with Omid Safi features teachings and stories about a sacred tradition of love, one that manifests outwardly as justice and inwardly as tenderness. Drawing primarily on the wisdom of the Islamic tradition as well as the legacies of the Civil Rights movements and other wisdom teachings, Omid invites you to a meditation on the transformative power of love and recalling the necessity of linking healing our own hearts with healing the world.

    Omid Safi is director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center. He specializes in the study of Islamic mysticism and contemporary Islam and frequently writes on liberationist traditions of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and is committed to traditions that link together love and justice.

    Omid is the past chair for the Study of Islam at the American Academy of Religion. He has written many books, including Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism; Cambridge Companion to American Islam; Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam; and Memories of Muhammad. His forthcoming books include Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Traditions and a book on the famed mystic Rumi.

    Omid is among the most frequently sought out speakers on Islam in popular media, appearing in The New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, PBS, NPR, NBC, CNN, and other international media. He leads spiritual tours every year to Turkey, Morocco, or other countries, to study the rich multiple religious traditions there. The trips are open to everyone, from every country. More information is available at Illuminated Tours.

    © Be Here Now Network
    Show More Show Less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Ep. 33 – When Religion Is A Stranger
    Nov 8 2024

    Exploring what it means to practice Islam in a world filled with evil, Omid Safi explains how strangeness can bring us back home to God.

    Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

    In this episode, Omid Safi holds a talk on:

    • Sacred sounds and the movement of the heavenly spheres
    • Heavy hearts from global suffering and genocide
    • The counterculture of Islam when it began
    • Looking into our own communities to consider what seems strange
    • Not being afraid to veer from tradition
    • Ways that we can become strangers to our own religion
    • Standing with those who are vulnerable
    • Returning home to the loving presence of God
    • Remembering what it means to be a Sufi
    • Taking care of the poor, the needy, the strangers, the lonely

    “We want to become re-acquainted and return to our original home which is the very loving presence of God. That’s where and when we’re going to be at home.” – Omid Safi


    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Ep. 32 – Star Wars, Yoda & Sufism
    Jun 6 2024

    Omid Safi discusses how modern myths like Star Wars can connect us to Sufism and the mystery of the universe.

    This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

    This time on Sufi Heart, Omid Safi has a discussion on:

    • The story of Moses in the Qur’an
    • Moses’ teacher, ‘the green one’, and Yoda from Star Wars
    • How myth-makers revive spiritual traditions
    • The mythic language found in music and movies
    • How Taoists, Muslims, Christians, and more see themselves in ‘the force’
    • Everything as animated and the energy that flows through all things
    • Recognizing that we are made of the elements and of God
    • How George Lucas asks beautiful questions in subtle ways
    • Considering the mystery rather than having all of the answers
    • The many forms that Allah may appear in and finding saints in ordinary people
    • How movies fill a gap when we mistrust formal religion

    “Luke and Obi-Wan, apprentice and master, this is the very stuff of the Sufi tradition, This is part of that re-enchanting that Star Wars is trying to accomplish. It’s trying to remind us that there are these mysterious ways of the heart, of the soul, of the universe, that we can still learn.” – Omid Safi

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • Ep. 31 – Hazrat Inayat Khan and the Sufi Path of Love
    May 10 2024

    Sharing insights from the path of love, Omid Safi discusses the teachings of Sufi philosopher, Hazrat Inayat Khan.

    Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

    In this episode of Sufi Heart, Omid Safi explores:

    • The universality of love
    • Coming back to the center
    • Experiencing God directly
    • Signs of God in scripture, nature, and our own souls
    • Having an open heart for all of humanity
    • Practicing love as a religion
    • Going into our breath for full presence and communion with God
    • How vast God is, yet how close we are to God
    • The singular focus of God as the beloved
    • The necessity of our ancestors’ wisdom
    • The path of the mystic vs. ordinary religion

    “The center is where we come to have that direct, immediate, unmediated experience of God, which is to say, the heart.” – Omid Safi

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show More Show Less
    50 mins

What listeners say about Sufi Heart with Omid Safi

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

for those who want love

Omid has a very calming voice and the way he tells stories are unique. I haven't heard this lecture many years ago and was searching to see if his books were available but am glad to find his lectures on here. A kind soul and a beautiful person.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!