Osman Bakar was born near Temerloh, Pahang, on 18 December 1946. He studied mathematics at the University of London and earned a PhD in Islamic philosophy of science at Temple University under Seyyed Hossein Nasr, with a dissertation published as Classification of Knowledge in Islam. He was deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Malaya (1995–2000), held the Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia at Georgetown University, was a professor at ISTAC, and since September 2024 has been rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia. His works, such as Tawhid and Science (1991) and The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science, place him in the al-Attas and Nasr circle of thought on science and the Islamisation of knowledge.