Premieres Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / PBS app + The film will begin streaming on YouTube with the broadcast
This powerful two-hour documentary about how a heartbroken woman finds solace is told in five great love stories from the Islamic tradition. At the heart of the film is Ariella Gayotto Hohl, a young Muslim woman grappling with the loss of her beloved father. In the wake of grief, she begins a deeply personal journey to understand one of humanity’s most enduring questions: What is love – and how do we heal and move forward when it’s taken from us?
“This journey changed the way I understand love. I came to see it not just as an emotion,” said Hohl, host of "Islam’s Greatest Stories of Love," “Love is a force that empowers, endures, and transforms. It is a choice we make, a value we live by, and a legacy that outlasts us. These stories reminded me that even in grief, love doesn’t end. In fact, it echoes through time.”
As Ariella travels across cultures, centuries, and spiritual landscapes, she encounters five unforgettable stories that reshape her understanding of love:
Layla and Majnun – The original story of star-crossed lovers whose names echoed in poetry for centuries before Romeo and Juliet.
The Taj Mahal’s Hidden Message – A closer look at the sacred calligraphy on this wonder of the world reveals its hidden secrets about devotion and eternity.
Malcolm X and His Sister – A rarely told story of familial love that shaped one of the most iconic Muslim leaders in American history.
Rumi and Shams – A bond so transformative, it sparked what many consider the greatest love poetry ever written.
Muhammad and Khadija – The enduring partnership between the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija, whose love helped build the foundations of a global faith.
Filmmaker Quote:
“Love is the most written-about emotion in human history, and the Islamic world is no exception,” said Alex Kronemer, director, writer and producer. “Yet many of its most iconic love stories remain unfamiliar to American audiences. This film offers a rare opportunity to see love through a different lens – one that is poetic, spiritual, and profoundly human. For many viewers, it will feel like a revelation.”
"Islam’s Greatest Stories of Love" is a cinematic meditation on loss, longing, and the sacred bonds that sustain us. At once intimate and expansive, the film invites viewers to rediscover love in its many forms – divine, romantic, familial, and eternal. Part travelogue, the documentary follows Ariella as she journeys through libraries, museums, and unexpected places where these timeless stories continue to live. Along the way, centuries-old artifacts, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, grand architecture, archival footage, and live performances bring each tale vividly to life.
Watch On Your Schedule: "Islam’s Greatest Stories of Love" will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. The film will also stream on PBS’s flagship YouTube channel.
Credits: Unity Productions Foundation, featuring and co-produced by Ariella Gayotto Hohl. The film is written and directed by Alex Kronemer with Jeremy Morrison as producer. Executive producers are Michael Wolfe (also a co-writer) and Jawaad Abdul Rahman with Donald Thoms as consulting executive producer. The Executive in Charge for PBS is Bill Margol.
