Dato Dr Afifi Al-Akiti is a Shafi’i scholar, trained theologian, and philologist. He is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and teaches Islam at the Faculty of Theology, 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 expertize are Islamic theology, law, finance, and science. 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. From 2018 to 2020, he was appointed by the Conference of Rulers in Malaysia as Deputy Chairman to the High-Level Panel on the Federal Administration of Islam, a royal commission looking into institutional reforms at the federal level in Malaysia. He was awarded a Datukship by HRH The Sultan of Perak in 2012.