Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

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The biography has gone through many reprints in English and it has been translated and published into many languages [4] including French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Dutch, Malay and Tamil. Hernandez, Aaminah (14 July 2005). "Best Biographies of the Prophet Muhammad". OnIslam . Retrieved 1 July 2013.

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. Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p399: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948 Lings might have been content to remain in Egypt for the rest of his life, but political events intervened. Abdul Nasser's nationalist revolution was preceded by savage anti-British riots, in which three of Lings's colleagues were killed, and the British university staff were dismissed without recompense. syair sebagaimana Burdah-nya Imam Busyiri maupun yang termaktub dalam prosa biografi. Ada ribuan karya berisi nukilan ucapan dan potongan-potongan peristiwa dalam kehidupannya. Ada ribuan pula yang disusun secara historis, berangkat dari perjalanan moyangnya hingga peristiwa-peristiwa besar setelah wafatnya. Muhammad adalah sosok yang teramat istimewa. Bagi sebagian kalangan, ia adalah penyampai risalah. Manusia suci yang dipilih untuk menjembatani ketentuan-ketentuan Tuhan bagi umat manusia sebagai jalan keselamatan bagi umat manusia itu sendiri. Namun bagi sebagian kalangan yang lain, beliau lebih dari sekedar itu. Ketika suatu masa, Allah bertanya kepada Sang Nabi, “Milik siapakah dirimu, Wahai Muhammad?” beliau menjawab, “Milik-Mu Ya Allah”. Kemudian Allah bertanya lagi, “Milik siapakah alam semesta ini wahai Muhammad?”, Beliau menjawab, “Milik-Mu Ya Allah”. Allah bertanya lagi, “Milik siapakah Aku ini wahai Muhammad?”, Sang Nabi diam, beliau tahu Allah tengah beretorika padanya. “Ana liman shalla ‘alaika, Aku adalah ‘milik’ orang-orang yang senantiasa bershalawat atasmu”. Demikian istimewanya Sang Nabi. Sehingga mustahil kita mencintai-Nya tanpa mencintai Sang Nabi, sebagaimana mustahilnya kita mencintai Sang Nabi tanpa mencintai-Nya. Perjalanan (sîrah) hidupnya memancar dan terus memancar menembus labirin sejarah. Menorehkan cinta di hati pecintanya, meski juga membekaskan kebencian bagi orang-orang yang iri akan kecemerlangan pribadinya. Sebagaimana dulu kaum kafir membenci diri dan umatnya. Kebencian yang kemudian terekspresikan dalam karikatur-karikatur amatiran. Kebencian yang tak seberapa sebenarnya, jika dibandingkan dengan apa yang beliau alami pada masanya dulu. Ketika harapan akan perlindungan dari kabilah Tsaqif di daerah Thaif justru berbalas cacian, makian bahkan lemparan batu. Hingga para malaikat, sekiranya diijinkan telah bersiap untuk menimpakan atas kaum tersebut gunung hingga mereka binasa. Manusia intan itu justru bermunajat, “Kepada siapakah Engkau (Allah) akan menyerahkan diriku? Kepada orang-orang asing yang bermuka masam terhadapku atau kepada musuh yang Engkau taqdirkan akan mengalahkanku?Asalkan Engkau tak murka kepada, fa lâ ubâlî, aku tak akan pernah risau” (Lings, 2009. Hal. 151). Dengan gaya bertuturnya yang indah, Martin Lings atau yang dikenal juga dengan nama Abu Bakr Siraj al-Dîn (wf.2005) menorehkan catatan-catatannya tentang perjalanan kehidupan Sang Nabi. Di tengah sekian banyak karya tentang sîrah-nya, dan di antara kealpaan sebuah generasi akan perjalanan sucinya, buku yang diwariskan Lings ini boleh jadi memiliki kekhasankekhasan yang tak dimiliki karya lain. Martin Lings adalah seorang muallaf berkebangsaan Inggris. Beliau lahir di Burnage, Lancashire, 24 Januari 1909. Meski begitu, beliau menghabiskan masa kanak-kanaknya di Amerika Serikat, mengikuti ayahnya. Setelah pulang ke Inggris, dia menempuh pendidikan di Clifton College, Bristol. Kemudian menempuh studi literature inggris dan memperoleh gelar BA dari Magdalen College, Oxford pada tahun 1932. Tahun 1935, beliau menjadi pengajar Studi Anglo-Saxon dan Inggris Tengah di Universitas Kaunas. Tahun 1940, Lings pergi ke Mesir mengunjungi seorang temannya yang mengajar di Universitas Kairo. Namun, dalam kunjungan tersebut, sang teman meninggal dalam sebuah kecelakaan dan Lings ditawari untuk mengisi posisi temannya sebagai pengajar. Dia menerima tawaran tersebut dan mulai mempelajari Islam di Mesir. Setelah banyak berhubungan dengan ajaran tasawuf, dia berketetapan hatiThe 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). Please consider buying books at full price as a way of supporting the charitable activities of the ITS. edition In 1944, Lings married Lesley Smalley, and their home in a village at the foot of the pyramids provided a refuge for both Egyptian and foreign visitors. The highlight of the year was Lings's annual production of a Shakespeare play. His passion inspired the student cast, one of whom became an Egyptian film star. His understanding of Shakespeare's spiritual significance led, 40 years later, to his book, The Secret Of Shakespeare: His Greatest Plays Seen In The Light Of Sacred Art. a b c d Martin, Douglas (29 May 2005). "Martin Lings, a Sufi Writer on Islamic Ideas, Dies at 96". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 1 April 2016.

Among the oddest leitmotifs of the book are Lings’ preoccupation with and free dramatizing of physical beauty. Khadijah“knew that she herself was still beautiful” (XII, 35, 1); Zaynab bint Jahsh was “a girl of out standing beauty” (XIII, 40, 1); “Ruqayyah was the most beautiful of their daughters and one of the most beautiful women of her generation” (XXIV, 70,1); ... and so on and so forth.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.’

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. [8] His work was hailed as the "best biography of the prophet in English" at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad. [9] He also continued travelling extensively, although he made his home in Kent. He died on 12 May 2005. [6] He recited these words after the Angel, who thereupon left him, and he said: “It was as though the words were written on my heart.”’ But he feared that this might mean he had become a jinn-inspired poet or a man possessed. So he fled from the cave, and when he was halfway down the slope of the mountain he heard a voice above him saying: “O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” He raised his eyes heavenwards and there was his visitant, still recognizable but now clearly an Angel, filling the whole horizon, and again he said: “O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” The Prophet stood gazing at the Angel; then he turned away from him, but whichever way he looked the Angel was always there, astride the horizon, whether it was to the north, to the south, to the east or to the west. Finally the Angel turned away, and the Prophet descended the slope and went to his house. Among his 12 books was The Eleventh Hour (1987), a profound study of the spiritual crisis of the mod- ern world, for which he had prepared the ground with Ancient Beliefs And Modern Superstitions (1965), and What Is Sufism? (1975), a corrective to many mis- understandings about this aspect of Islam. Symbol And Archetype: A Study Of The Meaning Of Existence (1991) demonstrated his grasp of traditional symbolism. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008 . Retrieved 6 February 2007. Asma Asfaruddin (July 1996). "Review: [Untitled] Reviewed Work: Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. 30 (1): 65.Includes important additions about the prophet’s spread of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states