Dr. Safwat received his PhD from the University of London in 1985 with his thesis: The Idea of Manzür, The process of Creating Pictorial Space in Islamic Painting. He has been an Islamic art lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and at the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture, Visual Islamic & Traditional Arts Department. He was author and calligraphy consultant for The Nour Foundation for Islamic Art. He is a renowned art historian and a well published author whose books include; The Art of the Pen : Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries (Oxford University Press.1996), The Harmony of Letters : Islamic Calligraphy from the Tareq Rajab Museum (Asian Civilisation Museum, National Heritage Board, Singapore, 1997, reprinted in 2000), Golden Pages : Islamic manuscripts from the Collection of Ghassan Ibrahim Shaker (Oxford University Press. 2000), among other publications.
Dr. Safwat is the author of several articles and translations of Islamic manuscripts including a translation of 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Qashani's 13th century Glossary of Technical Terms (translated from the Arabic with Arabic text, Octagon Press, London. 1991), and a translation of Life and Thoughts of Rabi'a a-'Adawiah by Widad al-Sakakini (translated from the Arabic, with an introduction by Doris Lessing (Octagon Press, London. 1982. Reprinted in 1995). He has authored a 50-minute television documentary entitled Journey with Arabic Calligraphy: Istanbul to Washington (Middle East Broadcasting Center, 2003). He lives in Dubai, and works as an author and broadcaster.