Annemarie Schimmel was born in Erfurt, Germany on April 7, 1922 and attended the University of Berlin and the University of Marburg. Schimmel has taught at the University of Ankara in Turkey, Harvard University, and Bonn University. Along with writing more than eighty books and essays, Schimmel has translated literature from the Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Sindhi languages into German and English. She was honored on her 75th birthday by having the Annemarie Schimmel Chair for Indo-Muslim Culture established at Bonn University.