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Words of Witness

Divine Call and Human Response in Iqbal and Tagore

Hina KhalidUniversity of Cambridge

A first-of-its-kind comparative study of Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore, and of how each understands God and the world as a dynamic exchange of call and response.

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Cover of Words of Witness by Hina Khalid: a nineteenth-century engraving of scholars reading beneath a tree, with the title in a white panel — Studies in Islamic Thought · 1Brill · 2026

The book

A fresh contribution to the study of Islamic thought, South Asian intellectual traditions, and political theology.

Bringing Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore into conversation, Hina Khalid explores how both thinkers understand the relationship between God and the world as a dynamic exchange of call and response, and traces its significance across cosmology, the human self, and political life.

Endorsed by

Francis X. ClooneyHarvard Divinity School
Sajjad RizviUniversity of Exeter

Details

Series: Studies in Islamic Thought, vol. 1
Publisher: Brill, with the Tokat Institute
Published: 2026
Access: Diamond Open Access
ISBN: 978-90-04-74972-6
Pages: 220

In conversation

Two poet-philosophers, one question.

How does the human being answer the call of the divine? Khalid follows the question through both thinkers, across three registers.

1877 – 1938

Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal

Poet and philosopher. Wrote in Urdu and Persian.

call response

1861 – 1941

Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore

Poet and philosopher. Wrote in Bengali; Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913.

ICosmology
IIThe human self
IIIPolitical life

The author

Hina Khalid

University of Cambridge

An author and scholar of religion whose work explores theology, philosophy, and spirituality across Islamic, Christian, and Indic traditions.

At the Tokat Institute, Hina Khalid teaches Living Islam: The Spiritual Art of the Everyday.

The course at Tokat

The press

Tokat Institute Press is the Institute's publishing programme: books and translations on Islamic thought, made with leading academic publishers and, wherever we can, free to read.

Series and journal

Editors

Studies in Islamic Thought

Editor-in-ChiefMohammed RustomCarleton University / Tokat Institute
Associate EditorCyrus Ali ZargarUniversity of Central Florida / Tokat Institute
EditorMuhammad U. FaruqueUniversity of Cincinnati / Tokat Institute
EditorSophia VasalouUniversity of Birmingham

For authors

Writing a book on Islamic thought?

Studies in Islamic Thought welcomes works that engage with Islamic intellectual traditions through textual, historical, philosophical, and constructive approaches.

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Or write to the editors at admin@tokatinstitute.org