Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Living Tradition

Home
Muslim

Love

Select a Category activism Community Divine Names Fear Feminine Islam Listening Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi Mevlevi Music Prophet Muhammad Psychology Quran Ramadan Remembrance Rumi Sacred Space Shadow Work Shams of Tabriz Spiritual Imagination spirituality Sufism Suleyman Dede Uncategorized Universal Intelligence Zikr Zikr Allah

Select a Month October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016

May 2020

May 13, 2020

All Food is Sacrifice

"You are cutting this apple with such presence,” a dear friend once observed as I...

March 2020

March 03, 2020

Meeting Muhammad

A few years ago I wrote a series of love letters to Prophet Muhammad (peace...

February 2020

February 10, 2020

Whirling through life: Reflections of a female whirling dervish

Whirling is a seven-centuries old form of full-body worship emblematic of the Mevlevi tradition of...

December 2019

December 12, 2019

My Mother’s Humanness and Divine Love

A man came to the Prophet Muhammad (PUH) and asked him who was the person...

November 2019

November 24, 2019

Befriending our donkey and our Jesus

On a recent trip to Berlin, I visited the Bode Museum with a friend. We...

October 2019

October 21, 2019

How Beauty Evokes Love in Sufism

I have been fortunate during my spiritual training to have been inspired by some extraordinary...

October 09, 2019

Being in Love Together

I recently attended a retreat where a fellow seeker described the sweetness of the companionship...

September 2019

September 27, 2019

Prophet Muhammad and the Man Who Ate Too Much

Early in my time on the Sufi path, I went to visit some friends I...

December 2018

December 28, 2018

Shams and the Breaking Heart

Lately I’ve been haunted by some lines from a poem called “The Testing-Tree”: In a...

September 2018

September 26, 2018

Muhammad’s Intimacy with His Rabb

In a previous article we mentioned how the Prophet (PUH) had a deep capacity...

August 2018

August 12, 2018

Countering Islamic Extremism With Radical Love: Book Review

While reading Omid Safi’s new book, Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition, I...

July 2017

July 17, 2017

The Work of Heart

Lately I've been seeing hearts everywhere I look. In a magazine I was reading, I...

February 2017

February 20, 2017

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Women in His Life

Dearest M, Where do we go from here? For the last...

November 2016

November 24, 2016

Guests of Love: Leonard Cohen and the Sufis (Part 2)

One of the greatest musical performances I have ever witnessed was one wet summer evening...

October 2016

October 21, 2016

Feminine Symbols in Islam

Islam and the Divine Feminine? Really? Yes, as improbable as it may seem,...

August 2016

August 29, 2016

Finding Guidance in Dreams

My dearest M, There’s the Hadith that says, “Anyone who sees me in a...

July 2016

July 21, 2016

If You Only Knew This About The Prophet

This is the fifth in my series of 11 Love Letters to the Prophet...

July 05, 2016

Is Love Shelved Under “L”?

My heart knocked against my ribs as I took the stairs two at a time....

June 2016

June 17, 2016

The Saints: Reviving Hearts

The word “saint” seems to have accumulated some negative associations in the West. When we...

June 04, 2016

Sitting with Holy Women

We sat in our circle in a bright hall, the sunbeams highlighting dust motes in...

May 2016

May 20, 2016

Making Love: Leonard Cohen and the Sufis

My journey to Islam started with Leonard Cohen. In his album, Recent Songs, Cohen writes...

May 07, 2016

On Beauty and Doing Love

I have been fortunate at certain times of my life to have been instructed by...

May 03, 2016

How I Fell in Love with the Prophet

I knew very little about the Prophet (peace be upon him) before coming to Islam....

April 2016

April 26, 2016

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

What’s Love Got To Do With It? As Tina Turner once famously...