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, CIE (1864–1930) was a British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College,^[1] Aligarh Muslim University (then Aligarh College), and Government College University, Lahore.^[2] He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam" at the insistence of Sir Syed.^[3] 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.^[4]

Life

Arnold was born on 19 April 1864, and educated at the City of London School.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] From 1917 to 1920 he acted as Adviser to the Secretary of State for India.^[8] He was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, from 1921 to 1930.^[9] Arnold became the first English editor for the first edition of The Encyclopaedia of Islam.^[10]

He was made Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1912, and in 1921 was given a Knighthood. He married Celia Mary Hickson in 1892.^[11] He died on 9 June 1930.^[12]

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)^[13]
• The Caliphate, Oxford 1924, reissued with an additional chapter by Sylvia G. Haim: Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1965^[14]
• The Old and New Testaments in Muslim Religious Art (Schweich Lectures for 1928)^[15]
• Painting in Islam, A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture (1928, reprint ed. 1965).^[16]

See also

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
• Muhammad 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.