This article explains what Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition is, who edited it, what it contains, and how a reader can approach it. The book is not a Hindu text. It is an anthology from the Islamic mystical tradition, and this guide keeps that distinction clear throughout.
The short answer: what is Radical Love?
Radical Love is a 2018 collection edited by Omid Safi, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. According to the publisher and retailer descriptions, it gathers Qur’anic passages, sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, and mystical writings on love, with an emphasis on what the editor calls the path of “Divine love.” Its translations include work by Jalal al-Din Rumi, Kharaqani, ‘Attar, Hafez of Shiraz, and Abu Sa‘id-e Abi’l-Khayr.
For a general reader, the book works as an introduction to Sufi poetry and the love-centered spirituality found in Arabic and Persian writing. It does not offer a single doctrine or a manual of practice. It presents texts from different poets and periods, and readers should expect variety in tone and theology.
About the book and its editor
The book was published on 22 May 2018. Yale University Press lists it under the title Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition, edited by Omid Safi. The Duke University Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies page describes Safi as both editor and translator. Google Books and the Barnes & Noble listing also identify him as editor.
Safi’s background is relevant to how the book should be read. The Goodreads author page states that he specializes in Islamic mysticism (Sufism), contemporary Islamic thought, and medieval Islamic history, and that he received his PhD from Duke University in 2000. He has also written on progressive Muslim thought, including the 2003 collection Progressive Muslims. A reader should therefore see the book as the work of a scholar-translator presenting a specific tradition, not as a neutral survey of all Islamic belief.
What the collection contains
The publisher description groups the material into three broad strands. The categories below follow that description. They are not a table of contents, and readers should check the printed edition for the exact arrangement.
Qur’anic passages sought by Muslim mystics
The editor describes the collection as bringing together the Qur’anic passages that Muslim mystical writers have emphasized in discussions of love. This is an important distinction. The Qur’an is scripture in the Islamic tradition, and the book’s selections reflect how certain mystics read it. Readers who want the scripture itself should consult a complete, reliable translation of the Qur’an alongside this anthology, so that they can see the wider context of each verse.
Sayings attributed to the Prophet
The second strand includes what the publisher calls the mystical sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. In Islamic scholarship, sayings attributed to the Prophet (hadith) are evaluated for authenticity and transmission, and different communities weigh them differently. The book’s inclusion of such sayings reflects a particular mystical reading. Readers should treat them as material that has been selected and interpreted by the editor, and they may wish to consult a hadith collection or scholarly introduction for the chain of transmission behind each saying.
Poets of the Persian and Arabic mystical traditions
The third strand brings together poetry. The publisher names Rumi, Kharaqani, ‘Attar, Hafez of Shiraz, and Abu Sa‘id-e Abi’l-Khayr. These poets wrote in Persian and Arabic over several centuries, and their works are often read in devotional settings as well as literary ones. The publisher says the translations are “accurate and poetic,” a claim that a reader can test by comparing the book with other translations of the same poets.
Coleman Barks, whose versions of Rumi are widely read in English, is quoted on the Waterstones listing calling the book “a beautiful collection.” Bruce B. Lawrence, a scholar of Islam, is quoted there describing it as an account of human and divine engagement. These are endorsements from the publisher’s marketing material, so they describe the book’s reception rather than independently confirm its scholarship.
Why the title says “radical”
The publisher describes the book as showing “a radically different face of the Islamic tradition” at a time when Islam is often associated with violence in the news. This framing is part of the book’s marketing and reflects the editor’s aim of presenting love as a central theme in the tradition. It is useful to notice what the word means here. The “radical” in the title points to a return to roots, in the sense that love is treated as a foundational theme in these texts, rather than to a political or extreme position.
Readers should also recognize that the presentation of a tradition as tolerant or love-centered is one interpretive choice among several. Islamic thought includes legal, theological, philosophical, and political strands, and many Muslims and scholars emphasize different themes. The book is strongest when read as a window into one important strand of that thought.
How to read the book with care
Keep scripture, poetry, and commentary separate
The collection mixes Qur’anic verses, prophetic sayings, and poems by later mystics. Each kind of text has a different status. Scripture is revealed text in the Islamic view. Sayings attributed to the Prophet have a different authority and transmission history. Poetry is literary and devotional, and its imagery of wine, beloved, and lover is often read symbolically by Sufi writers and by modern readers alike. A careful reader asks which category a passage belongs to before drawing conclusions from it.
Check translations and editions
The editor describes the translations as his own, and different translators render Rumi and Hafez quite differently. If a reader wants to quote a passage, the safest approach is to cite the book’s translation by name and page, and to note that the translation is the editor’s. Readers who want a second view can compare a different translation of the same poem. Editions also differ. Goodreads lists the hardcover at 336 pages, while the Yale University Press listing gives 224 pages for the eBook. Readers should check the edition they plan to buy.
Understand the historical setting
Most of the poets in the collection lived in Persian-speaking lands between roughly the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Their works developed within Islamic cultures that included courts, Sufi lodges, and urban and rural devotional communities. Readers unfamiliar with this history may find a general introduction to Islamic history and Sufism helpful before reading the poetry closely.
A bridge for Hindu readers?
Many readers of HindusGod.com come to the site for Hindu deities, scriptures, and devotional love in traditions such as bhakti. A reader may naturally ask whether Islamic mystical love poetry and Hindu devotional poetry share themes. Such comparisons can be meaningful, but they require careful sourcing from both traditions. The sources used for this article describe only the Islamic mystical content of Radical Love, so this guide does not make claims about Hindu parallels.
Readers who want to explore love as a devotional theme within Hindu tradition can start with related HindusGod.com content on Krishna and Radha. For example, the draft article Radha Krishna Love is one place to begin, and Krishna Love offers a related starting point. These pages are currently WordPress drafts, so they may not yet be publicly visible. The owner should confirm their status before relying on them as live links.
A respectful comparison should begin with each tradition on its own terms. Readers should ask how each text defines love, who speaks in the poem, what the relationship to the divine is, and what community or practice the text came from. Answering these questions in each tradition avoids the error of assuming that similar words carry identical meanings.
Who might find this book useful?
- Readers new to Sufi poetry who want a single volume covering several poets and the Qur’anic and prophetic material behind them.
- Students of religion who want to see how one scholar frames love as a theme in Islamic mysticism.
- Readers who already know Rumi and want to see the earlier and parallel poets he read or was influenced by.
- Interfaith readers who want to understand Islamic devotional language before comparing it with other traditions.
The book is less suitable for readers seeking legal rulings, step-by-step devotional practice, or a neutral overview of all Islamic beliefs. Those needs call for other resources.
Frequently asked questions
Is Radical Love a Hindu book?
No. It is an anthology from the Islamic mystical tradition, edited and translated by Omid Safi. It is reviewed here for readers interested in love-centered devotional literature from another religion.
Does the book contain Qur’an verses?
According to the publisher description, it includes Qur’anic passages that Muslim mystics emphasized. Readers should consult a complete Qur’an translation to see verses in their full context.
Which poets appear in the collection?
The publisher names Rumi, Kharaqani, ‘Attar, Hafez of Shiraz, and Abu Sa‘id-e Abi’l-Khayr, along with other key Muslim mystics.
Closing takeaway
Radical Love is a useful entry point to the love poetry and mystical teaching of the Islamic tradition, presented through the translations and selections of a scholar who has spent much of his career studying Sufism. Its strongest use is as a primary-text anthology read alongside a reliable Qur’an translation, a general history, and, where relevant, other translations of the same poets. Readers should note the editor’s role in selection and translation and avoid treating the publisher’s framing as the only way to read the tradition.
Sources and further reading
- Goodreads: Radical Love by Omid Safi. Used for the publication date, page count of the hardcover, the publisher-description summary, and the editor’s biography.
- Yale University Press: Radical Love. Used for the publisher, the publication date, the editor credit, and the eBook page count.
- Duke University Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies: Radical Love. Used for the 2018 Yale University Press credit and the editor-translator description.
- Google Books: Radical Love. Used for the description of the poets included.
- Waterstones: Radical Love. Used for the endorsement quotations from Coleman Barks and Bruce B. Lawrence.
- Barnes & Noble: Radical Love. Used for the publisher-description wording and the editor credit.