AGA KHAN LIBRARY

Dr Walid Ghali

ISMC 2022, King’s Cross, London

Head Librarian
​​Dr Ghali leads the Aga Khan Library. He is an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at The Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC).

He received his PhD in Arabic Manuscript Traditions from Cairo University in 2012. He also completed coursework for a master’s degree in Islamic studies, and earned a diploma in Executive Management from the Institute of Management.

Dr Ghali coordinates and teaches the Paths to Sufism module for MA students at the AKU-ISMC, and co-teaches on other modules such as Concept of Nation in Modern Arabic Literature and Muslim Societies in a Changing World. He delivers guest lectures on Pre-Islamic Poetry and Prose Culture and Quran Recitation at The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS). Dr Ghali also organizes yearly short courses on Arabic Manuscript Traditions and Qur’an in Daily Muslim Practices.

He is also a member of the Editorial Board of Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Papers. In 2020, he was elected as a board member of The Islamic Manuscript Association.

Dr Ghali publishes in many different research areas, and gives guest lectures and presentations at international conferences. His forthcoming publication is a critical edition of previously unknown documents belonging to the leading Egyptian figure and Muslim reformer Muhammad Abduh (d.1905).