Pilgrims on the Path of Love: Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore 

In this talk, Dr Hina Khalid (University of Cambridge) will offer some comparative reflections on the theological visions of Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Belonging to rather different intellectual and spiritual traditions, Iqbal and Tagore may appear unlikely dialogue partners. However, Dr Hina will show the remarkable resonances across their worldviews - most notably in their treatment of "love" not as a fleeting fancy or subjective sentiment but as the very heartbeat of creation itself. Put simply, for both figures, love is the intricate tapestry of which the universe is woven. By analysing this logic of love in their visions, Dr Hina will suggest that Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiries can yield a much richer theological harvest than may be initially expected.

About our presenter, Dr Hina Khalid

From 2020-2023, Dr Hina Khalid was an AHRC Doctoral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, and an Honorary PhD Scholar at the Woolf Institute. She holds a BA and MPhil in Theology and Religious Studies, also from Cambridge.

Her doctoral dissertation explored the theological and philosophical worldviews of two major poet-thinkers of the Indian subcontinent – Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), two of whose Bengali songs are the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), often regarded as the spiritual father of Pakistan. By studying, in a comparative mode, the distinctive aesthetic and theoretical contributions of these two writers, her dissertation elucidates some fertile resonances across Islamic and Hindu worldviews, such as the dynamic relationship between God and the world, the inseparability of finite matter and infinite spirit, and the synthesis of the mystical and the political.

Dr Hina's publications have centred on a range of topics, including conceptions of embodiment, ecology, and spirituality across the Christian, Islamic, and Indic worldviews. She also maintains a keen commitment to outreach, having previously worked as Access & Outreach Officer at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge, and having coordinated a Theology Summer School for the Sutton Trust since 2022.

Time and Location 

Monday 12 May, 2025 at 16:00-17:30.

Clothworkers North Building, LT 2.31 (Cinema), University of Leeds

Tickets (free) are available here: Eventbrite Tickets