Thomas Walker Arnold

Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (19 April 1864 – 9 June 1930) was a British orientalist and historian of Islamic art. He taught at Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), later Aligarh Muslim University, and Government College University, Lahore.

Arnold was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who influenced him to write the famous book The Preaching of Islam, He was the first English editor for the first edition of The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 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. at Edmonton, Middlesex.

Personal life In 1892, Arnold married Celia Mary, a daughter of G. Hickson, and they had one daughter.

Works

(trans. and ed.) The little flowers of Saint Francis by Francis of Assisi. London: J.M. Dent, 1898. The Court Painters of the Grand Moghuls. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1921. The Caliphate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. Reissued with an additional chapter by Sylvia G. Haim: Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1965. Painting in Islam, A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928. Reprint ed. 1965. Bihzad and his Paintings in the Zafar-namah ms. London: B. Quaritch, 1930. (with Alfred Guillaume) The Legacy of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931. The Old and New Testaments in Muslim Religious Art. London: Pub. for the British Academy by H. Milford, Oxford University Press. Schweich Lectures for 1928.