Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources – Martin Lings

Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din)

$25.95

Martin Lings’ biography of Muhammad (saws) is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive and authoritative account of the life of the Prophet. Acclaimed worldwide as the definitive biography of the Prophet Muhammad in the English language, Martin Lings’ Muhammad: His Life Based to the Earliest Sources is unlike any other. Based on Arabic sources of the eighth and ninth centuries, of which some important passages are translated here for the first time, it owes the freshness and directness of its approach to the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

Martin Lings has an unusual gift for narrative. He has adopted a style which is at once extremely readable and reflects both the simplicity and grandeur of the story. The result is a book which will be read with equal enjoyment by those already familiar with Muhammad’s life and those coming to it for the first time.

Muhammad: His Life Based to the Earliest Sources was given an award by the government of Pakistan, and selected as the best biography of the Prophet in English at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad in 1983.

The late Dr Martin Lings, formerly Keeper of Oriental Manuscript in the British Museum and the British Library, is the author of many works on Islamic mysticism including, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, What is Sufism? and The Book of Certainty.

King Charles III on Martin Lings: “One of the great privileges of my life has been to know Dr. Martin Lings..In Dr Lings’ case, he saw beneath the surface of things and helped us to penetrate the veil behind which lies the sacred meaning to so many of life’s mysteries… It is an illuminated peace which I pray is now enfolding the departed spirit of dear Martin Lings.”

‘Despite the vastness of the subject, this biography makes an easy and absorbing reading for anyone interested in religion as such. For those interested in Islam one way or another it is mesmerising.’ – S. H. Nasr, George Washington University.

‘I read it straight through, then re-read it, almost in its entirety, fascinated.’ – Titus Burckhardt.

Categories: , ,

Tags: , , , , , ,

  • 9781594771538
  • Paperback
  • 374

Product Description

Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. The book has been published in twelve languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the Prophet in English at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad. This revised edition, which represents the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005, incorporates important additions about the Prophet’s expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states.

‘Before the appearance of this book, Western languages lacked almost entirely a comprehensive and authentic account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad… Lings has produced a superb narrative that in its sobriety and dignity of style, and its scrupulous and exhaustive fidelity to authentic and reliable sources, constitutes a major addition to Islamic literature in English. Highly recommended.’
– Hamid Algar, Religious Studies Review.

‘There is a freshness, clarity and gripping suspense throughout the book… As a text in the how and the why and the when of various revelations—both Koranic and Prophetic traditions—it is enlightening and authoritative… Our author’s familiarity with all the complicated inter-family links of tribal Arabia gives us the certainty that he knows his material thoroughly… This work should be translated into Arabic so that the whole Arab world may drink from it.’ – Muslim World (Cape Town).

About the Author:

Martin Lings (24 January 1909 – 12 May 2005), also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English Muslim writer, Islamic scholar, and philosopher. At Oxford, he studied English under C. S. Lewis, who later became a close friend.  Lings taught at several European universities and the University of Cairo and served as the keeper of Oriental manuscripts for the British Museum and the British Library. He is the author of twelve books on religion and spirituality.

 

Reviews

An enthralling story that combines impeccable scholarship with a rare sense of the sacred worthy of his subject.
The Spectator
An excellent introduction to the subject and very well written.
Annemarie Schimmel.
This work is widely recognized as the most readable account of the life of the Prophet to date.
Times of London
Lings provides a wealth of detail on the life of Muhammad, the time and place of many Koranic revelations, and the foundation of Islam, all based exclusively on 8th- and 9th-century Arabic biographical sources and collections of the sayings attributed to Muhammad. General readers will find a well-written, straightforward chronological narrative; Muslim readers will appreciate the favorable treatment of Muhammad; while specialists will find a faithful and convenient rendering of source material.
Joseph Gardner, California State Univ. Library, Northridge Library Journal
Muhammad is a true work of art, as enthralling and engrossing as the best of novels with the difference that this is no fiction but fact. With the magic of his pen, the author makes all the historical personalities of his book come alive… The skill of narration is enhanced throughout the book with the most regal and dignified English, inspiring the sense of majestic grandeur essential for any literary work dealing with Divine and Eternal Truths.
The Islamic Quarterly

Related Titles