EUR  â¬93.90EUR  â¬89.00 excl. VAT
Words of Witness
Divine Call and Human Response in Iqbal and Tagore
Series: - Studies in Islamic Thought, Volume: 1
Author:
In Words of Witness, Hina Khalid offers a comparative exploration of the theologies of Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (d. 1941). From their vast writings spanning multiple languages, she draws attention to the striking conceptual resonances across their worldviewsâparticularly their metaphysics, anthropologies, and political philosophies. The book demonstrates how both poets envision the Godâworld relationship as one of a dynamic âcall and response,â and thus situate the finite in unceasing connection with the infinite. For both Iqbal and Tagore, human beings are called upon to become active participants in the divine creativity unfolding throughout the cosmos, and to craft their social and political worlds in modes that reflect as well as enact this sacred artistry.
Hina Khalid, Ph.D. (2024), University of Cambridge, is a scholar of Islamic aesthetics and comparative theology. Her publications have centred around philosophical, spiritual, and literary themes across the Islamic, Christian, and Hindu traditions.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861â1941) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877â1938) were two of the leading intellectuals of pre-Independence India and Pakistan, but rarely have they been so carefully studied together as in this impressive book. Noting the distinct but converging Muslim and Hindu frames within which they faced the challenges of their times, Hina Khalid highlights surprising convergences in their theological presuppositions, agendas for action, and educational programs. Moreover, she thereby also restores theologyâs relevance amid the cosmic, human, and political realities of our times, exemplifying a comparative theology that is relevant in todayâs multi-religious world.
â Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Harvard Divinity School
Witnessing Words is a beautifully crafted work of comparative theology that brings Iqbal and Tagore into sustained and illuminating dialogue. Across multiple languages and genres, Khalid shows how each thinker imagines human existence as a response to the divine callâa metaphysicalâanthropological vision shaped by the relational interplay between the infinite and the finite. She leads readers into a genuinely dialogical mode of interpretation, allowing Iqbal and Tagoreâs conceptual worlds to refract and enrich one another.â
â James Madaio, Czech Academy of Sciences
Words of Witness fills a major lacuna in the study of modern South Asian thought through a comparative reading of HinduâMuslim theo-poetic traditions. Focusing on Rabindranath Tagore and Muhammad Iqbal, it offers a groundbreaking analysis of their shared cosmological visionsâdivine creativity, the relationality of finite and infinite, and a dynamic call-and-response between God and the human being.
â Muhammad U. Faruque, author of Sculpting the Self
â Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Harvard Divinity School
Witnessing Words is a beautifully crafted work of comparative theology that brings Iqbal and Tagore into sustained and illuminating dialogue. Across multiple languages and genres, Khalid shows how each thinker imagines human existence as a response to the divine callâa metaphysicalâanthropological vision shaped by the relational interplay between the infinite and the finite. She leads readers into a genuinely dialogical mode of interpretation, allowing Iqbal and Tagoreâs conceptual worlds to refract and enrich one another.â
â James Madaio, Czech Academy of Sciences
Words of Witness fills a major lacuna in the study of modern South Asian thought through a comparative reading of HinduâMuslim theo-poetic traditions. Focusing on Rabindranath Tagore and Muhammad Iqbal, it offers a groundbreaking analysis of their shared cosmological visionsâdivine creativity, the relationality of finite and infinite, and a dynamic call-and-response between God and the human being.
â Muhammad U. Faruque, author of Sculpting the Self
Students and scholars of South Asian literature, Islamic thought in India, Islamic and Hindu theology, comparative literature, religious studies, global philosophy, and postcolonial literature