author
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold
1864–1930
A pioneering British scholar of Islam, art, and intellectual history, he spent key years teaching in Aligarh and Lahore and helped shape how Islamic culture was studied in English. His best-known work, The Preaching of Islam, remained influential for decades.
1 Audiobook
The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith
by Sir Thomas Walker Arnold
About the author
Born on April 19, 1864, Thomas Walker Arnold was a British orientalist and historian of Islamic art. He studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, then moved to India while still a young man to teach at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, later also serving at Government College in Lahore.
Arnold became known for taking Islam seriously as a living intellectual and religious tradition at a time when that was far from universal in British scholarship. Reference works on his career note his long engagement with Islamic studies, his friendships and collaborations in South Asia, and his role as a teacher to students who would become major figures in their own right.
He later worked at the India Office and was Professor of Arabic at the University of London. He is especially remembered for books such as The Preaching of Islam and for his work on Islamic art and culture. He died on June 9, 1930.