Dato’ Dr Afifi Al-Akiti, FRSA, is a Shafi’i jurist, trained theologian, and philologist. He is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and teaches Islam at the Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford University’s oldest faculty. He is the first-ever Malaysian to be appointed to such a position in this famous university. His areas of expertise are Islamic theology, law, finance, and science. Dr Al-Akiti is internationally acclaimed for his 2005 fatwa, ‘Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians’, written in response to the 7 July London bombings. In 2024, he was appointed by the Conference of Rulers in Malaysia to join the National Islamic Council (MKI). In that same year, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the United Kingdom. He was awarded a Datukship by HRH The Sultan of Perak in 2012.