Thomas Walker Arnold

Thomas Walker Arnold
Sir Thomas Arnold
Born	19 April 1864 Devonport, Devon
Died	9 June 1930
Influenced	Muhammad Iqbal

Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (1864–1930) was an eminent British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at MAO 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 was also the teacher of famous poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi and a very close friend of Shibli Nomani who was also a teacher at Aligarh.

Life

Arnold was born on 19 April 1864, and educated at the City of London School. He entered Magdalene College, Cambridge University in 1883.^[1]

From 1888 he worked as a teacher at the MAO 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.^[2]

Arnold introduced Indian Muslim poet Muhammad Iqbal to Western culture and ideas, serving as a bridge for Iqbal between Eastern and Western thought.^[3]

He was made Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1912, and in 1921 was given a Knighthood by the Crown. He married Celia Mary Hickson in 1892. He died on 9 June 1930.

Works

• Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (1896). The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith. WESTMINSTER: A. Constable and co. p. 388. Retrieved 2011-05-29. (Original from the University of California)
• The Caliphate, Oxford 1924, reissued with an additional chapter by Sylvia G. Haim: Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1965
• The Old and New Testaments in Muslim Religious Art (Schweich Lectures for 1928)
• Painting in Islam, A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture (1928, reprint ed. 1965).

See also

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
• Iqbal
• Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
• Shibli Nomani
• List of Old Citizens

References

External links

• Arnold, Sir Thomas Walker, School of Oriental and African Studies: home page
• Sir Thomas Walker entry in Encyclopaedia Iranica
• The Archive of the Council for World Mission] is held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.