Canadian-born in 1922, Davies spent his childhood in Egypt, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. He studied Arabic and Persian at the University of London, and then continued his studies at Cambridge University. Davies then worked in the Arab division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for five years. He went to Cairo in 1945 and worked as a lecturer at the university. Davies was interested since the beginning of his literary career in Arabic renaissance, and has translated more than thirty volumes between the short story, the novel, drama and poetry. Davies established and edited the free quarterly Arabic magazine entitled ‘Voices.’ He worked as an advisor for the Series of Arab Authors (Silsilat Al Mualifeen Al Arab) which he established in the publishing house, Heinemann. In 2007, he was chosen by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as a cultural icon of the year and was granted the Sheikh Zayed Award for his contribution to the spreading of modern Arab literature to the Western world. Davies is considered the most famous English translator of modern Arabic literature alive. He is very interested in Islamic studies, and has published a translation of parts of Ihya Ulum al-Din for al-Ghazali. He also translated with Dr. Izz al-Din Ibrahim, three volumes of the Hadith. Davies also published about fifty children's books inspired by tales of heritage in Arabic folk literature. He wrote a biography of the Prophet (PBUH) for the youth, and Sultan Bin Zayed Centre for Culture and Media published the biography in English and Arabic in 2012.