Martin Lings

Martin Lings

Martin Lings in 2004

Title Shaykh

Born 24 January 1909

Burnage, Manchester

Died 12 May 2005 (aged 96)

Westerham, Kent

Era Modern era

Occupation Islamic scholar, author;

Shakespearean scholar
 Religion Islam

Denomination Sunni

Jurisprudence Maliki

Movement Sufi, Traditionalist School

Notable Muhammad: His Life Based on the

work(s) Earliest Sources

Clifton College
Alma mater
Magdalen College, Oxford
School of Oriental and
African Studies
Sufi order Shadhili (Darqawi-Alawi-
Maryamiya)

Martin Lings (24 January 1909 12 May 2005), also known as Ab Bakr Sirj ad-Dn, was
an English Muslim writer, scholar, and philosopher. A student of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof
Schuon[1] and an authority on the work ofWilliam Shakespeare, he is best known as the author
of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, first published in 1983 and still in print.

Early life and education

Lings was born in Burnage, Manchester, in 1909 to a Protestant family.[2] The young Lings gained
an introduction to travelling at a young age, spending significant time in the United
States because of his father's employment. Lings attended Clifton College and went on
to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a BA in English Language and Literature. At
Magdalen, he was a student and then a close friend of C. S. Lewis. After graduating
from Oxford Lings went to Vytautas Magnus University, in Lithuania, where he taught Anglo-
Saxon and Middle English.[2]
For Lings himself, however, the most important event whilst at Oxford was his discovery of the
writings of the Ren Gunon, a French metaphysician and Muslim convert, and those of Frithjof
Schuon, a German spiritual authority, metaphysician and Perennialist. In 1938, Lings went to
Basle to make Schuon's acquaintance. This prompted his embracing Islam to embrace the
branch of the Alawiyya tariqa led by Schuon. Thereafter, Lings remained Schuon's disciple and
expositor for the rest of his life.[3]

Career
In 1939, Lings went to Cairo, Egypt, to visit a friend who was an assistant of Ren Gunon. Soon
after arriving in Cairo, his friend died and Lings began studying Arabic. Cairo became his home
for over a decade; he became an English language teacher at the University of Cairo and
produced Shakespeare plays annually.[4] Lings married Lesley Smalley in 1944 and lived with her
in a village near the pyramids.[5] Despite having settled comfortably in Egypt, Lings was forced to
leave in 1952 after anti-British disturbances.[6]
On returning to the United Kingdom he continued his education, earning a BA in Arabic and a
PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). His doctoral thesis
became a well-received book on Algerian SufiAhmad al-Alawi.[2] After completing his doctorate in
1959, Lings worked at the British Museum and later the British Library, overseeing eastern
manuscripts and other textual works,[2] rising to the position of Keeper of Oriental Printed Books
and Manuscripts 197073. He was also a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in
Comparative Religion.
A writer throughout this period, Lings' output increased in the last quarter of his life. While his
thesis work on Ahmad al-Alawi had been well regarded, his most famous work was a biography
of Muhammad, written in 1983, which earned him acclaim in the Muslim world and prizes from the
governments of Pakistan and Egypt.[7]His work was hailed as the "best biography of the prophet
in English" at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad.[8] He also continued travelling
extensively, although he made his home in Kent. He died on 12 May 2005.[5]
In addition to his writings on Sufism, Lings was a Shakespeare scholar. His contribution to
Shakespeare scholarship was to point out the deeper esoteric meanings found in Shakespeare's
plays, and the spirituality of Shakespeare himself. More recent editions of Lings's books on
Shakespeare include a foreword by Charles, Prince of Wales.[9] Just before his death he gave an
interview on this topic, which was posthumously made into the film Shakespeare's Spirituality: A
Perspective. An Interview With Dr. Martin Lings.[10]

Books
The Underlying Religion (World Wisdom, 2007) ISBN 978-1-933316-43-7

Splendors of Qur'an Calligraphy And Illumination (2005), Thesaurus Islamicus

Foundation, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-97648-1

A Return to the Spirit : Questions and Answers (2005), Fons Vitae, ISBN 1-887752-74-9

Sufi Poems : A Mediaeval Anthology (2005), Islamic Texts Society, ISBN 1-903682-18-5

Mecca: From Before Genesis Until Now (2004), Archetype, ISBN 1-901383-07-5

The Eleventh Hour: the Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and
Prophecy (2002), Archetype, ISBN 1-901383-01-6

Collected Poems, revised and expanded (2002), Archetype, ISBN 1-901383-03-2

Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions (2001), Archetype, ISBN 1-901383-02-4

 What is Sufism (Islamic Texts Society, 1999) ISBN 978-0-946621-41-5[11]

The Secret of Shakespeare : His Greatest Plays seen in the Light of Sacred Art (1998),
Quinta Essentia, distributed by Archetype, (hb), ISBN 1-870196-15-5

Sacred Art of Shakespeare : To Take Upon Us the Mystery of Things (Inner Traditions,
1998) 0892817178

A Sufi saint of the twentieth century: Shaikh Ahmad al-Alawi, his spiritual heritage and
legacy (Islamic Texts Society, 1993) ISBN 0-946621-50-0

Symbol & Archetype : A Study of the Meaning of Existence (1991, 2006), Fons Vitae
Quinta Essentia series, ISBN 1-870196-05-8

Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (Islamic Texts Society, 1983) ISBN
978-0-946621-33-0 (World-UK edn) / ISBN 978-1-59477-153-8 (US edn)

The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination (World of Islam Festival Trust, 1976) ISBN
0-905035-01-1

The Heralds, and other Poems 1970

The Elements, and Other Poems (1967), Perennial Books

The Book of Certainty: The Sufi Doctrine of Faith, Wisdom and Gnosis signed as Abu
Bakr Siraj ad-Din. Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 1992 (1st ed. 1952).