Martin Lings (1909–2005)
Author of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
About the Author
Martin Lings was born in Lancashire in 1909. After a classical education he read English at Oxford where he was a pupil and later a close friend of C. S. Lewis. In 1935 he went to Lithuania where he lectured on Anglo-Saxon and Middle English and subsequently he went to Egypt and and lectured mainly show more on Shakespeare at Cairo University. In 1952 he returned to England and took a degree in Arabic and in 1955 he joined the staff of the British Museum where from 1970-73 he was Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts. For the following year he held the same post in the newly founded British Library. In addition to writing many books, as well as articles for Studies in Comparative Religion, Sophia, The New Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia Britannica show less
Works by Martin Lings
Shakespeare's Window into the Soul: The Mystical Wisdom in Shakespeare's Characters (2006) 28 copies
The Eleventh Hour: The Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and Prophecy (1987) 27 copies
The Elements and Other Poems 3 copies
Un santo sufí del siglo XX el Sayj Ahmad Al-ʿAlawî : su herencia y su legado e spirituales (2001) 3 copies
Islamic liturgy; song and dance at a meeting of dervishes. [sound recording] (1960) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Eleventh Hour 1 copy
Un santo sufí del siglo XX El Sayj Ahmad Al-Alawi : su herencia y su legado espirituales (1982) 1 copy
CFARE ESHTE SUFIZMI 1 copy
Onbirinci Saat 1 copy
Yirminci Yüzyılda Bir Veli 1 copy
The Heralds and other poems 1 copy
Martin Lings 1 copy
Associated Works
Sufis of Andalusia: The Ruh Al-Quds & Al-Durrat Al-Fakhirah (1971) — Foreword, some editions — 32 copies
The Unanimous tradition : essays on the essential unity of all religions (1991) — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din
- Birthdate
- 1909-01-24
- Date of death
- 2005-05-12
- Burial location
- Westerham, Kent, England
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Burnage, Manchester, England
- Places of residence
- USA
Clifton, Bristol, England, UK
Lithuania
Cairo, Egypt
Westerham, Kent, England - Education
- Oxford University (Magdalen College) (B.A.) (English Language and Literature)
School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London (B.A.) (Arabic)
School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London (Ph.D.) - Occupations
- writer
author
Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts
lecturer in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English
English language teacher - Relationships
- Lewis, C. S. (tutor)
Schuon, Frithjof (mentor) - Organizations
- British Museum
British Library
Perennialist School
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas
University of Cairo - Short biography
- See: http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/aut...
Members
Reviews
This book was quite valuable for my World Religions class project about Sufism. I cannot think my friend enough for lending me this book. It is not your average non-fiction book. This is a beautifully written book, that compiled rich information in an accessible manner. the writing style is SO BEAUTIFUL. I have consulted Titus Burckhardt's 'Introduction to Sufi Doctrine', and although his book is quite rich with information and methodical; yet the style isn't as 'magical' as Lings'.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the subject of Mysticism, and Sufism. This is an introductory decent dose of Sufism. I say 'introductory', but I don't mean 'simple and shallow'; no the book is quite deep.
Enjoy!
Will definitely reread it later. At times, reading it felt like a prayer, just the right book for my taste :)… (more)
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the subject of Mysticism, and Sufism. This is an introductory decent dose of Sufism. I say 'introductory', but I don't mean 'simple and shallow'; no the book is quite deep.
Enjoy!
Will definitely reread it later. At times, reading it felt like a prayer, just the right book for my taste :)… (more)
wonderful book and a great introduction to the Prophet (pbuh). I find Islam a very interesting subject to read about and this book is one of the best I have read.
This book is great and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Muhammad or the beginnings of Islam. It's very thorough, detailed, and concise. The best thing about it is that as a biography, even though is it in chronological order, it starts telling the tale of Muhammad from -before- his birth. This fact alone gives a lot of insight and helps establish the setting of the time period that he was born into. Martin Lings as well is very talented. His eloquent way of writing this biography made this book actually fun to read, whereas many people (like myself) find that biographies get very long, boring, and difficult to read.… (more)
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yumna.ali08 | 6 other reviews | Dec 2, 2008 |
yumna.ali08 | 6 other reviews | Dec 2, 2008 | Lists
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 49
- Also by
- 8
- Members
- 1,230
- Popularity
- #20,872
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
- 109
- Languages
- 10
- Favorited
- 2
I liked the book, it is not a dry recitation of facts and battles and dates, but tries to be more of a biography, to bring the historical figure to life in the reader's mind.