Omid Safi
Omid Safi is a scholar of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) as well as contemporary Islamic thought at Duke University. He returned to Duke University in 2014 to lead the Duke Islamic Studies Center, and has served as the Chair of the Study of Islam Section at the American Academy of Religion.
Dr. Safi’s passion for teaching has been recognized through the ten times that he has been nominated for professor of the year awards.
Dr. Safi has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. His Memories of Muhammad is a biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition (published by Yale). His next book is Breathing With God: Spiritual Sayings of Kharaqani (also by Yale), followed by a book on the mystic Rumi from Princeton.
Dr. Safi has been invited by the family of Dr. King to speak at Ebenezer Church on the relevance of Dr. King for today’s America, and has delivered the Martin Luther King keynote in the annual national MLK service.
Dr. Safi often appears as an expert on Islam in the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, PBS, NPR, NBC, BBC, CNN and other outlets. He has a podcast (“Sufi Heart”) at Be Here Now.
In his community-based work, his Illuminated Tours have taken more than 2,500 friends from over twenty countries to Turkey, Morocco, and Umrah journeys since 2002, and he is now offering Illuminated Courses for online offerings on spiritual traditions open to seekers of all backgrounds.
