The Incurable Pain: Islamic Perspectives on Addiction

The Incurable Pain: Islamic Perspectives on Addiction

What if the pain that leads a person to addiction is seen as the defining quality of being human?  Join Amer Latif at Putney Public Library on Wednesday, June 29^th at 7pm to explore ways in which Muslim sages, like Rumi, embody a vision of the human being as the bearer of an incurable pain in beautiful poetry and how this poetry is sung in gatherings that have become vibrant social institutions in Islamic cultures.

Amer Latif has been professor of religious studies at Marlboro College since 2003. His research focuses primarily on Islamic mystical texts and practices. He is also interested in the issues surrounding cultural translation and has published translations of the poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13^th century Muslim scholar and mystic. A current resident of Putney, he grew up in Pakistan and came to the United States for college. After getting a BA in physics from Bard College, he received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from Stony Brook University.