Muhammad Isa Waley graduated from the University of Cambridge inOriental Studies. He was appointed Assistant Keeper in charge of Persianand Turkish manuscripts at the British Museum in 1971, and on the creation ofthe British Library in 1974 he became responsible for the same collections until 2010, when he became part-timeLead Curator for Persian. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1990 by London University's School ofOriental and African Studies for a thesis on the Tarji?at or stanzaic poems ofJalal al-Din Rumi. He has published many articles on classical Sufi literatureand spirituality, as well as on Islamic manuscript studies and bibliography,besides editing numerous books, articles, and works of reference, includingthe English edition of Islamic Codicology: An Introduction to the Study ofManuscripts in Arabic Script (2005). His most recent work is a translationof the Chihil kalima or Arba?in (Forty Traditions of the Prophet) by ?Abdal-Rahman Jami.