Thomas Walker Arnold

Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, CIE (1864–1930) was a British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College,Aligarh Muslim University (then Aligarh College), and Government College University, Lahore. He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam" at the insistence of Sir Syed. He also taught poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, and was a very close friend of Shibli Nomani who was also a teacher at Aligarh.

Arnold was born on 19 April 1864, and educated at the City of London School. From 1888 he worked as a teacher at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh. In 1898, he accepted a post as Professor of Philosophy at the Government College, Lahore and later became Dean of the Oriental Faculty at Punjab University. From 1904 to 1909 he was on the staff of the India Office as Assistant Librarian. In 1909 he was appointed Educational Adviser to Indian students in Britain. From 1917 to 1920 he acted as Adviser to the Secretary of State for India. He was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, from 1921 to 1930. Arnold became the first English editor for the first edition of The Encyclopaedia of Islam.