Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas was born in Bogor, West Java. He received his early education in Sukabumi and Johor Bahru. He later studied at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England and, subsequently, at the University of Malaya, McGill University (MA) and the University of London (PhD), focusing on Islamic philosophy, theology and metaphysics.

Scholar: Tan Sri Syed Naquib has written over 30 books in the fields of Islamic philosophy, theology and metaphysics, history, literature, art and civilization, and religion and education. He is among the few contemporary scholars who is also thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences. His magnum opus is Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam and his latest book (2023) is Islām: The Covenants Fulfilled.

Institutions: As a scholar of Islam, Tan Sri Syed Naquib has made significant contributions to the contemporary world of Islam in the domains of the Islamization of contemporary knowledge and of Muslim education. He was responsible for the conceptualization of the Islamic University, which he initially formulated at the First World Conference on Muslim Education, held in Makkah (1979). In 1987, Tan Sri Syed Naquib founded and directed the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), which is a major, global academic institution. He has inspired a generation of new scholars including Professor Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, who is the current holder of The Distinguished Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Chair of Islamic Thought at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).