COURSES

Cover Letters 185 300

Nestled in the Womb of God

The Divine-Human Entanglement in the Cosmologies of Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Saturday 9th December 2023
14:00–17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London

A seminar by Hina Khalid

How to Book

Cost: £8 + £1.54 registration fee.

Entry by ticket from Eventbrite: Click to book

Enquiries: Michael Cohen at london@beshara.org

 

Event Description

Hina says: Across the religious traditions that are today encompassed by the terms ‘Islam’ and ‘Hinduism’, a recurring motif is that the originative cause of the world is also the spiritual breath animating its return to its singular root. In this talk, I venture into the relatively unexplored terrain of a Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiry into the intimate presence of the divine reality to the finite world. I offer a comparative analysis of the conception of the infinite in the worldviews of two major philosopher-poets of the Indian subcontinent – Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). I argue that both Iqbal and Tagore, drawing on their distinctive religio-cultural inheritances, set forth the relation between the finite and the infinite as a dynamic entanglement, wherein the infinite stands not as a reifiable item in a cosmic inventory but as the ever-creative and sustaining ground of all that there is. I close by suggesting some of the implications of their cosmologies for their visions of human becoming – an existential undertaking that is, for both figures, firmly rooted in, and dynamically oriented to, the boundless divine reality.

Hina Khalid is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. She is working on a comparative study of the theology and poetry of Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore. She is particularly interested in the possibilities of comparative theology across Islamic and Indic traditions, and in the ways that shared devotional idioms have formed in and across the Indian subcontinent. Her publications have centred on a range of topics, including issues of embodiment, gender, and spirituality across the Christian, Islamic, and Indic worldviews.

The October Gallery
24 Old Gloucester Street
London
WC1N 3AL

Refreshments Provided

MORE COURSES

Love and Knowledge in the Light of Unity | the Direct Path

Beshara Foundation Course

Introductory weekend at Sutton Courtenay Abbey, Oxfordshire
10th – 12th October 2025
(Zoom attendance also available)

10 x bi-weekly evening online sessions
23rd October 2025 – 26th March 2026
Thursday evenings, 19:00 – 20:30 GMT/BST

This course provides a full introduction to the principles of Beshara in terms of both knowledge and practice. Taking the metaphysics of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi as a starting point, the course explores what it means to understand oneself and the world in the light of the Unity of Existence.

Contact: besharacourses3@beshara.org

Aspects of Science, Imagination and the Mystical

Saturday 14th June 2025
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London

With Peter Coates

This talk will consider the vital role of the Creative Imagination in Natural Science and in the Mystical Philosophy of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi.

Contact: Michael Cohen  london@beshara.org

Paradise E’Now or The Smile of the Spirit

Saturday 24th May 2025
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London

With Charles Mugleston

A special Birthday Celebration with music, exploring, experiencing & soulfully enjoying the Ruba’iya’t of Hakim Omar Khayya’m translated & adapted by the Anglo-Irish genius Edward FitzGerald of Woodbridge, Suffolk into “English Music” in 1859.

Contact: Michael Cohen  london@beshara.org

Open Meetings

Monday 7th April, 2025
Monday 5th May, 2025
17:30–18:30 BST

Saturday 26th April, 2025
Saturday 24th May, 2025
9:00am-10:00am BST

Are you interested in sharing your thoughts and in contributing to the development of Beshara? We are excited to invite you to another series of monthly online Open Meetings

© The Beshara Trust (UK) 2022. All rights reserved