About this Event
For Iqbal, love is the very fabric of which creation is woven: God "first" loved, and we are enjoined to reprise that love in pursuit of proximity to Him. Many signposts adorn this path of proximity—of the most luminous is beauty. In Iqbal's poetics, beauty brims with a life of its own: far from a mere object for static contemplation, beauty is the vibrant catalyst of dynamic, re-forming love. By thus drawing beauty and love into an animate, intimate kinship, Iqbal casts the spiritual life as an exquisitely creative dialogue with the divine.
Please note that doors will close shortly before the advertised time, so we request that you arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Open for all, regardless of faith.
About Dr Hina Khalid
Hina Khalid is an independent scholar, whose work sits at the intersection of Islamic aesthetics, comparative theology, and South Asian poetics. Hina received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and her first book, Words of Witness: Divine Call and Human Response in Iqbal and Tagore, has recently been published with Brill.
About The Cambridge Festival of Islamic Arts
The Cambridge Festival of Islamic Arts runs from 19 to 29 November 2026, bringing performances, exhibitions, lectures, and workshops to Cambridge's historic colleges, museums, and cultural spaces. Open to everyone, the festival celebrates the beauty and diversity of Islamic arts, and, fifty years on from the landmark 1976 World of Islam Festival, carries that spirit into our own time. Find out more at cfia.co.uk.
Event venue & nearby stays
Winstanley Lecture Theatre - Trinity College, Garret Hostel Lane, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.