FWS: Radical Love: The Mystical Traditions of Islam

Catalog description

The eleventh century Muslim poet Rumi called love the water of life. While Islam today is often viewed through the lens of politics and violence, this class will provide an introduction to the mystical traditions of Islam with a particular focus on the importance of love. Other themes will include mystical understandings of the body, the self, the natural world, sexuality, the role of music and art in becoming close to the divine, and more. We will be writing about many of these themes, and will read works of poetry and philosophy, passages from the Quran, and histories of mystical movements past and present. In doing so, we will be able to understand how mystical love operates not just as a metaphor, but a way of life.