Dr. Minlib Dallh, a graduate of Hartford Seminary’s International Ph.D. program in 2011, returned to campus on Thursday to discuss his new book, which is based on his dissertation.

The Sufi and the Friar: A Mystical Encounter of Two Men of God in the Abode of Islam tells the story of a profound spiritual encounter between Serge de Beaurecueil (1917-2005), a twentieth-century French Dominican friar and Christian mystic, and the eleventh-century Ḥanbalī Sufi master Khwāja ‘Abdullāh Anṣārī of Herāt (1006-1089).

The book, Dr. Dallh said, “would never have seen the light of day without the invaluable help of many people” at Hartford Seminary.

The intent of the book, he said, is to address whether Christians are sufficiently hospitable to the “otherness” of the religious other. He called the book a “mystical approach to dialogue.”

View the entire lecture here: