Martin Lings (24 January 1909 – 12 May 2005), also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English writer, Islamic scholar, and philosopher. A student of the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

Frithjof Schuon Frithjof Schuon ( ; ; 18 June 1907 – 5 May 1998) was a Swiss philosopher and spiritual leader, belonging to the Traditionalist School of Perennial philosophy, Perennialism. He was the author of more than twenty works in French on metaphys ...

and an authority on the work of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, 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 Burnage is an area of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, south of the city centre and bisected by Kingsway. The population at the 2011 census was 15,227. It lies within the Greater Manchester Metropolitan area, in the historic count ...

, Manchester, in 1909 to a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

family. He gained an introduction to travelling at a young age, spending significant time in the United States because of his father's employment. He attended

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

and went on to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, 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 Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

. After graduating from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Lings went to

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but ...

, in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, where he taught

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

. For Lings himself, however, the most important event while at Oxford was his discovery of the writings of

René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (; ), was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from esoterici ...

, a French metaphysician and Muslim convert, and those of

, a German spiritual authority, metaphysician and Perennialist. In 1938, Lings went to Basel to make Schuon's acquaintance. This prompted him 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.

Career

In 1939, Lings went to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, to visit a friend who was an assistant of René Guénon. Soon after arriving in Cairo, his friend died and Lings began studying

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. Cairo became his home for over a decade; he became an English language teacher at the

University of Cairo Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

and produced

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

plays annually. Lings married Lesley Smalley in 1944 and lived with her in a village near the

pyramids A pyramid () is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid ca ...

. Despite having settled comfortably in Egypt, Lings was forced to leave in 1952 after anti-British disturbances. Lings1

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 book on Algerian

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Ahmad al-Alawi. After completing his doctorate in 1959, Lings worked at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and later the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, overseeing eastern manuscripts and other textual works, rising to the position of Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts 1970–73. 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. His work was hailed as the "best biography of the prophet in English" at the National Seerat Conference in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

. He also continued travelling extensively, although he made his home in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. He died on 12 May 2005. Lings and a Salafist scholar named Abu Bilal Mustafa al-Kanadi had a public debate about some accounts of Lings' biography of Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The exchange was published by ''

Saudi Gazette ''Saudi Gazette'' is an English-language daily newspaper launched in 1976 and published in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is only available online, as the print version was discontinued in 2019. It is the second English-language daily newspaper in Saud ...

''. 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 III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. 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''.Shakespeare's Spirituality: A Perspective
/ref>

Books

*''The Underlying Religion'' (

World Wisdom World Wisdom is an independent American publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus ...

, 2007) *''Splendors of Qur'an Calligraphy And Illumination'' (2005), Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation,

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, *''A Return to the Spirit : Questions and Answers'' (2005), Fons Vitae, *''Sufi Poems : A Mediaeval Anthology'' (2005),

Islamic Texts Society The Islamic Texts Society (ITS) is a peer-reviewed, British publishing house which concentrates on academic and general titles on Islam. It is registered as an educational charity in the UK. History The Islamic Texts Society was founded in Cam ...

, *''Mecca: From Before Genesis Until Now'' (2004),

Archetype The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...

, *''The Eleventh Hour: the Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and Prophecy'' (2002), Archetype, * ''Collected Poems, revised and expanded'' (2002), Archetype, *''Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions'' (2001), Archetype, * ''What is Sufism'' (

, 1999) *''The Secret of Shakespeare : His Greatest Plays seen in the Light of Sacred Art'' (1998), Quinta Essentia, distributed by Archetype, (hb), *''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'' (

, 1993) *''Symbol & Archetype : A Study of the Meaning of Existence'' (1991, 2006), Fons Vitae Quinta Essentia series, *
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
' (

, 1983) (World-UK edn) / (US edn) *''The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination'' ( World of Islam Festival Trust, 1976) *''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,

, 1992 (1st ed. 1952).

References

Sources

External links