Printer Friendly Version - Radical Love at Mercy by the Sea

An upcoming program at Mercy by the Sea will explore radical love through the teachings of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel and Malcolm X, whose lessons, Omid Safi believes, can encourage not just “common ground, but higher ground.”Photo courtesy of Mercy by the Sea

A leading Muslim public intellectual and director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center, Omid Safi, Ph.D. has been invited back to Mercy by the Sea Retreat and Conference Center in Madison to lead a weekend retreat on Radical Love: The Legacy of the Prophetic Traditions, from Friday, Oct. 25 to Sunday, Oct. 27.

The program will explore radical love through the teachings of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel, and Malcolm X, whose lessons, Safi believes, can encourage not just “common ground, but higher ground.”

Safi believes that Islam has a tradition that could help change the divisiveness and polarization we are now experiencing. This tradition, known as Sufism, celebrates the path of radical love.

In his newest book, Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition (Yale University Press, 2018), Safi says, “Nowadays when we speak about love, we almost exclusively refer to romantic love.” For Sufi mystics, however, he says, “love is a...purifying fire that burns away selfishness, greed, anger, and leaves behind nothing but God.”

“The program, both for commuters and overnight guests, will aim to put love into daily practice and is for seekers of all faith backgrounds,” says Mercy by the Sea Program Associate Karin Nobile.

The weekend program begins on Friday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. and runs through early afternoon Sunday, including a book signing with the author. For more information about the retreat, including overnight and commuter fees, visit www.mercybythesea.org or call Rosemary Jones at 203-245-0401, ext. 114. Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition is sold at the Mercy by the Sea bookstore with other titles by Safi.

For 45 years, as a sponsored work of the Sisters of Mercy Northeast, Mercy by the Sea has welcomed individuals and groups of diverse faiths and backgrounds to a peaceful place of natural beauty. The center’s programming is contemplative and experiential, grounded in the community’s tradition of discerning and serving unmet needs of its particular time and place. Today, that commitment is focused on the five critical concerns: earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism, and women’s education, health, and spirituality.