Symposium: Guru, Imam, Avatar— porous portals and esoteric pathways to the divine

Join Dr Ankur Barua and Dr Teena Purohit to explore the motifs of the divine guide and divine mystery across Islamic, Hindu, and Sikh borderlines. 

Across two panel sessions, presenters will discuss topics including the decentering of the “I” in some Hindu and Indo-Islamic devotional music, the role of the Guru in the Sikh tradition, and the significance of Prophet Muhammad in Islamic cosmology. 

Schedule overview

Session 1 (10:00–12:45 BST)

Brief opening comments | Dr Teena Purohit, Associate Professor of Religion, Boston University

Alakh Puruṣ: Naming the Guru in an early modern Hindavi manuscript | Christine Marrewa PhD, Columbia University

The Supreme Guru as the source of authentic knowledge in Sikh lineages and traditions | Satnam Singh, independent researcher and author of The Road to Empire (UC Press, 2024)

Contested relics and competing authorities in the Sikh tradition | Gurinder Singh Mann, Director of the Sikh Museum Initiative

Discussant: Dr Teena Purohit

Session 2 (14:00–16:30 BST)

Hidden not absent: mystical experiences of the Imam in modern Shiʿi practice | Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter

The spiritual master at the threshold of silence: South Asian expressions of perplexity | Ankur Barua, Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

Secrecy as suspension: The Messiah in political theology | Zaki Rehman, Research Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge

Discussant: George Warner, Institute for Ismaili Studies

Practicalities

If you would like to join this event, use the registration link above. To join online, choose “remote attendee” when registering.

We recommend that you also write to the organisers if you will be joining on site in Cambridge.

Those in Cambridge may also be interested to attend an additional lecture on early Sikh engagement with Islam on 15 June.

Acknowledgements

This event is enabled through the kind support of the Spalding Trust, the Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum (small grants) and the College of the Arts and Sciences at Boston University.

Download the full programme (PDF).