Across the Great Divide — 1000 years of Hindu-Muslim exchange
Saturday 6 December 2025, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
This gathering has already happened. It is kept here as a record.
Where
Sacred Roots Muslim Community, 1758 West 21st Place, Chicago, IL, 60608, United States
Muslims entered the Indian subcontinent in the 700s. In the 1000s, they produced their first scholarly study of their Hindu neighbors, al-Bīrūnī's famous "Book of South Asia (Kitāb al-Hind)." In subsequent centuries, Muslims reflected on the different beliefs and practices of Hindus, a process which continues to this day.
Join us as we explore the history of Hindus and Muslims living side side on planet Earth, and what it means for our global society of the 21st century.
R. David Coolidge is Visiting Faculty at Bayan Islamic Graduate School. He received his Ph.D. in 2023 from the Graduate Theo-logical Union (GTU), with a dissertation about Muslim percep-tions of the Hindu tradition. He was formerly the Muslim chap-lain at Dartmouth College and Brown University. He converted to Islam in 1998, and in 2004 married Sumaiya Balbale. They have two children and live in Oakland, CA.
Schedule
Prayer (Ṣalah)
Lecture
Discussion
Dinner