Martin Lings

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.

His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

Muhammad

Martin Lings provides an excellent and authoritative introduction to the mystical movement of the Sufis based on his lifelong interest in Islamic culture. His explanation derives from a profound understanding of Sufism, and extends to many aspects which are usually neglected. His illuminating answer to 'What is Sufism?' gives a taste of the very subject matter itself. What do Sufis believe? What do they aim at? What do they do? Unlike other writers on the subject, Martin Lings treats all the three questions with equal justice. He is thus able to give a wealth of answers to the main question 'What is Sufism?', each answer being from a different angle but all going to the root of the matter. A reviewer wrote 'Should the book appear in paperback, I would use it for undergraduate and graduate courses on Islamic civilization', and in fact What is Sufism? has become a set book in colleges and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. It is now accepted as the authoritative statement on the subject of Sufism and it has been translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish. It has also been published in Sarajevo in Bosnian, and is available in Braille.

What is Sufism?

Every religious tradition or metaphysical worldview involves a system of powerful symbols, most of which bear common meanings across cultures, continents, and time. This volume, complete with a 9th century Quranic manuscript, explores the significance of the most recurrent symbols and archetypes in human history and elaborates a compelling theory for why symbolism plays such an essential role in human life. The work explores certain basic aspects of symbolism in relation to the Divinity, the hierarchy of the universe, the function of human faculties and qualities, the human condition, natural objects, works of art, and the final end?all with reference to the great living religions of the world, and in particular to Christianity and Islam.

A Study of the Meaning of Existence

Symbol & Archetype

Questions and Answers (Quinta Essentia series)

A Return to the Spirit

Antik İnançlar Modern Hurafeler

From Before Genesis Until Now

Mecca

Scheich Aḥmad al-ʻAlawī ; sein geistiges Erbe und Vermächtnis

Ein Sufi-Heiliger des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts

- A powerful defence of religion in which the author draws upon his wide knowledge of the world religions.- One of the greatest ironies of the modern world is that its most ardent champions are the blindest to the real assets of the times

Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions

Martin Lings gives us powerful reasons for believing that we have now reached a point in time from which 'the end' - whatever that may mean - is already in sight without being immediately imminent. The Eleventh Hour has its roots in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. The following questions run through the book: why did the latecomers receive the same wage as those who had laboured throughout the heat of the day? Why were they the first to be paid? And why, did Christ say 'And the last shall be first?' These questions are answered in the light of the concept of the Millennium, which is clearly the equivalent of the new Golden Age of the next cycle of time, and which is found in all three monotheistic religions, bringing them into line, in this respect, with Hinduism, Greco-Roman Antiquity and Buddhism.

The Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and Prophecy

The Eleventh Hour

On the life and works of the Algerian poet and Sufi.

Shaikh Aḥmad Al-ʻAlawī : His Spiritual Heritage & Legacy

A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century

Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafā al-Mustaḡanimī Abū al-ʿAbbās al ʿAlawī

Le cheikh Ahmad al-©Alawî, héritage et testament spirituels

Un saint soufi du XXe siècle

Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din

The author was asked by a friend to set down in writing what he considered to be the most important things that a human being can know and was also asked to make it very easy. This small book discusses the profoundest truths with remarkable simplicity and clarity.

The Sufi Doctrine of Faith, Vision and Gnosis

The Book of Certainty

Drawing upon his wide knowledge of world religions the author in this book strikes at the root of everything that makes it difficult for people today to believe wholeheartedly in religion and in doing so, it shows modern man to be, in his own peculiar twenty-first century way, the embodiment of superstition in its most dangerous form. We are faced in the modern world with a situation similar to that in the fable of the Emperor's new clothes. This book aims to speak the truth about the modern outlook especially concerning science and metaphysics, in order to dispell the illusion that prevents the intellect from seeing things as they really are.

Clinton Minnaar

This is an anthology of 25 essays by the leading exponents of the perennialist school of comparative religious thought. It aims to be the most accessible introduction yet to the perspective of the Perennial Philosophy.

An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy

The Underlying Religion

Muḥammad

In this book, eminent Islamic scholar Martin Lings discusses the significance of the pilgrimage to Mecca in the light of the tradition of Abraham. Drawing upon his own experience of performing the pilgrimage first in 1946 and then again in 1978, as well referring to the traditional sources he describes how the Hajj, proclaimed and established by Abraham and Ishmael about 4,000 years ago, and renewed by the Prophet Muhammad some fourteen hundred years ago, has continued to be performed without a break until the present day, its spiritual meaning as profound and timeless as ever.

This collection of the essential writings of Martin Lings brings together some of the most outstanding chapters from his wide range of works. In addition to selections dealing with the perennial philosophy, such as “Do the Religions Contradict One Another?”, the anthology includes sections from Lings' writings on Islam and Sufism, notably his magisterial account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad; his acclaimed biography of the Algerian Sufi master Ahmad al-ʿAlawi; his pioneering work on the Quranic art of calligraphy and illumination; and his celebrated translations (from the Arabic) of classics from the field of Sufi mystical poetry. Also featured are selections on the spiritual dimensions to be found in the mature plays of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet.

The Essential Martin Lings

Una formidabile introduzione al Pensiero Tradizionale: ecco come si può definire questo splendido saggio che avvicina il lettore alla prospettiva tradizionale in modo preciso, circostanziato e garbato. I cicli della storia dell'uomo, la sua costituzione spirituale, le moderne credenze nell'evoluzione, i cambiamenti nelle religioni: ecco solo alcuni dei grandi temi che vengono discussi in termini insolitamente semplici e accessibili al non specialista. Veramente straordinaria è la capacità dell'Autore di accostarsi, sviluppare e offrire al lettore quella "sapienza senza tempo" che ha permeato - ad eccezione di quella moderna - tutte le civiltà e tutte le religioni.

Martin Lings

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