Sufism

In this episode of The Golden Thread, we journey to 8th-century Basra to meet Rbia al-Adawiyya, the mystic who carried a torch and a bucket through the night, vowing to set fire to heaven and extinguish hell. Her message was clear: God should be loved for love's sake alone. We'll explore how her witness reshaped Sufi spirituality, why her radical devotion still unsettles and inspires, and how it invites us to live and love without calculation. Then, we'll look ahead to India, where the poet-weaver Kabir sang of love that mocked hypocrisy and transcended temples and mosques.