Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

In-store location: Shelf 3.20

 By Martin Lings, Inner Traditions International, Paperback, 361 pages

A revised edition of the internationally acclaimed biography of the prophet

 - Includes important additions about the prophet's spread of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states

 - Contains original English translations from 8th and 9th century biographies, presented in authoritative language

 - Represents the final updates made on the text before the author's death in 2005

 Martin Lings' biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet's life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

 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. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet's expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author's death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad

About the author:

Martin Lings (1909-2005) was born in Burnage, Lancashire. 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 at the University of Kaunus. After four years, he went to Egypt and was given a lectureship in English Literature at Cairo University where he lectured mainly on Shakespeare. He later returned to England and took a degree in Arabic at London University and subsequently joined the staff of the British Museum where he was Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts until his retirement in 1973.

He is the author of The Sacred Art of Shakespeare, Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions, The Eleventh Hour, Symbol & Archetype, The Book of Certainty (the Sufi Doctrines of Faith, Vision and Gnosis), A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, What is Sufism? and Sufi Poems: A Mediaeval Anthology. His Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources has been acclaimed as the best biography of the Prophet. He was also the author of several articles for the new Encyclopaedia of Islam, of the article on Sufism in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and participated in various Islamic conferences form time to time. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and member of its council and also a member of the British Museum Society.