Professor Wilfred Madelung was born on December 26, 1930 in Stuttgart, Germany, and upon receiving his primary and secondary education, he enrolled at Cairo University, where he received his bachelor's degree in Islamic History and Literature in 1935. He then continued his graduate studies is Germany, where he received his doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Hamburg in 1957. Madelung wrote his dissertation under the supervision of the famous German Islamic scholars, R. Strothmann and B. Spuler.