Martin Lings – författare

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.

Muhammad: His Life Based to the Earliest Sources was given an award by the government of Pakistan, and selected as the best biography of the Prophet in English at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad in 1983.

The renowned scholar and Sufi master, the late Dr Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din) was working on a full translation of the Qur'an when he passed away. The Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, who had commissioned Dr Lings to translate the Qur'an, and the Islamic Texts Society were granted access to his papers. The Publishers extracted from these previously unpublished writings, and from all his other publications, his translations of verses from the Qur'an. These are here presented as The Holy Qur'an: Translations of Selected Verses accompanied by the original Arabic text on facing pages.

Occasionally, Dr Lings translated a particular verse in more than one way; all the different versions have been retained. On the one hand, this is a reflection of the fact that there can never be a definitive translation of the sacred text; on the other hand, this brings out the multiple meanings that may exist in one verse.

In addition, there is an appendix of Dr Lings' translation of the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God with the original Arabic and transliteration; and a cross-referenced index which is intended to work as a minor concordance.

For all those wishing to learn about the Qur'an, for non-Arabic-speaking Muslims, for students of Arabic and translation, for scholars of Islamic studies, The Holy Qur'an: Translations of Selected Verses is a short and accessible introduction with the additional benefits of the profound learning of an eminent scholar and the beautiful language of a published poet.

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.

'Almost a prerequisite for any serious study of Sufism in European languages': this was the verdict of Seyyed Hossein Nasr in his review of the first edition of A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-Alawi his Spiritual Heritage and Legacy.

In this work, the author, Dr Martin Lings, presents a vivid picture of the unforgettable figure of the Algerian Shaykh Ahmad al-Alawi through a short biography by his French doctor and the translation of the Shaykh al-Alawi's own autobiography. These are followed by expositions of the Shaykh al-Alawi's teachings which are based on pure metaphysics and gnosis. Finally, Dr Martin Lings translates selections from Shaykh al-Alawi's aphorisms and mystical poetry. The whole work immerses the reader in the world of North African Sufism both as an intellectual tradition and a living reality.

Drawing on first-hand sources which had been inaccessible to Western readers at the time this book was originally published in 1961, this book gives a vivid picture of life in an order of Muslim mystics or Sufis. Against this background stands the unforgettable figure of the Algerian Shaikh who was head of the order from the death of his Master in 1909 until his own demise in 1934. The last chapters are devoted to his writings, which include some remarkable mystic poems.

Sufi Poems is a selection of poems from the golden period of Sufism especially chosen and translated from the Arabic by the distinguished scholar Dr Martin Lings. Dr Lings is the author of numerous best-selling works on Sufism and is a published poet in his own right. Including poems here translated for the first time, Sufi Poems brings together selections from the giants of Sufism; for example, Rabia, Hallaj, Ibn al-Farid and Ibn Arabi. Sufi Poems is published as bi-lingual Arabic-English edition, which will be of interest to all those wishing to read the original Arabic and will also be helpful for university students of Arabic.

The renowned scholar and Sufi master, the late Dr Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din) was working on a full translation of the Qur'an when he passed away. The Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, who had commissioned Dr Lings to translate the Qur'an, and the Islamic Texts Society were granted access to his papers. The Publishers extracted from these previously unpublished writings, and from all his other publications, his translations of verses from the Qur'an. These are here presented as The Holy Qur'an: Translations of Selected Verses accompanied by the original Arabic text on facing pages.

Occasionally, Dr Lings translated a particular verse in more than one way; all the different versions have been retained. On the one hand, this is a reflection of the fact that there can never be a definitive translation of the sacred text; on the other hand, this brings out the multiple meanings that may exist in one verse.

In addition, there is an appendix of Dr Lings' translation of the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God with the original Arabic and transliteration; and a cross-referenced index which is intended to work as a minor concordance.

For all those wishing to learn about the Qur'an, for non-Arabic-speaking Muslims, for students of Arabic and translation, for scholars of Islamic studies, The Holy Qur'an: Translations of Selected Verses is a short and accessible introduction with the additional benefits of the profound learning of an eminent scholar and the beautiful language of a published poet.

Sira betyder ’sätt att gå’ på arabiska och är också namnet på den islamiska vetenskapsgren som handlar om Profeten Muhammeds liv, må Guds frid och välsignelser vara med honom. Profetens närstående och samtida var väl medvetna om vikten av att allt som var känt om Profeten och hans liv bevarades och den tidigaste siran förmedlades huvudsakligen muntligt av Profetens följeslagare. Med stor respekt för hans unika person, med omsorg och yttersta noggrannhet återgavs dessa berättelser och förmedlades från generation till generation.

Den första omfattande siran samlades och nedtecknades av Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq som dog i Bagdad 151 e. H. Ett drygt århundrade senare reviderades och kommenterades hans samling av Abd al-Malik Ibn Hisham i ”Mukhtasar”, vilken har varit en betydande källa för Martin Lings framställning, liksom ”Maghazi”, en krönika över Profetens fälttåg, av Muhammad ibn Umar al-Waqidi, en yngre samtida till Ibn Ishaq. Att känna till något om Profetens liv ger en rikare och mer nyanserad förståelse av Islam och dess heliga texter och det är därför glädjande att Martin Lings skildring av Islams första intensiva tid nu är tillgänglig även för svenska läsare.

Acclaimed worldwide as the definitive biography of the Prophet Muhammad in the English language, Martin Lings’ Muhammad: His Life Based to the Earliest Sources is unlike any other. Based on Arabic sources of the eighth and ninth centuries, of which some important passages are translated here for the first time, it owes the freshness and directness of its approach to the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

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.

Muhammad: His Life Based to the Earliest Sources was given an award by the government of Pakistan, and selected as the best biography of the Prophet in English at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad in 1983.