Prior to joining Zayed University, Ali worked as an assistant professor at Cairo University and as a visitor professor at Islamic University of Madinah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) where he taught comparative linguistics, Semitic studies, and Arabic language as a foreign language. He holds a B.A. in Arabic Islamic studies from Cairo University, an M.A. in comparative linguistics from Cairo University, and a Ph.D. in Semitic studies from Free University of Berlin.