Muhammad
His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
By 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.
Excerpt
from Chapter 15
The First Revelations
It was not long after this outward sign of his authority and his mission that he
began to experience powerful inward signs, in addition to those of which he had
already been conscious. When asked about these he spoke of “true visions” which
came to him in his sleep and he said that they were “like the breaking of the
light of dawn.” The immediate result of these visions was that solitude became
dear to him, and he would go for spiritual retreats to a cave in Mount Hirā’ not
far from the outskirts of Mecca. There was nothing in this that would have
struck Quraysh as particularly strange, for retreat had been a traditional
practice amongst the descendants of Ishmael, and in each generation there had
been one or two who would withdraw to a solitary place from time to time so that
they might have a period that was uncontaminated by the world of men. In
accordance with this age-old practice, Muhammad would take with him provisions
and consecrate a certain number of nights to the worship of God.
Then he would return to his family, and sometimes on his return he took more
provisions and went again to the mountain. During these few years it often
happened that after he had left the town and was approaching his hermitage he
would hear clearly the words “Peace be on thee, O Messenger of God,” and he
would turn and look for the speaker but no one was in sight, and it was as if
the words had come from a tree or a stone. Ramadan was the traditional month of
retreat, and it was one night towards the end of Ramadan, in his fortieth year,
when he was alone in the cave, that there came to him an Angel in the form of a
man. The Angel said to him: “Recite!” and he said: “I am not a reciter,”
whereupon, as he himself told it, “the Angel took me and whelmed me in his
embrace until he had reached the limit of mine endurance. Then he released me
and said: ‘Recite!’ I said: ‘I am not a reciter,’ and again he took me and
whelmed me in his embrace, and again when he had reached the limit of mine
endurance he released me and said: ‘Recite!’, and again I said ‘I am not a
reciter.’ Then a third time he whelmed me as before, then released me and said:
‘Recite in the name of thy Lord who created!
He createth man from a clot of blood.
Recite; and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful,
He who hath taught by the pen,
taught man what he knew not.’”
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.
“Cover me! Cover me!” he said to Khadījah as with still quaking heart he laid
himself on his couch. Alarmed, yet not daring to question him, she quickly
brought a cloak and spread it over him. But when the intensity of his awe had
abated he told her what he had seen and heard; and having spoken to him words of
reassurance, she went to tell her cousin Waraqah, who was now an old man, and
blind. “Holy! Holy!,” he said. “By Him in whose hand is the soul of Waraqah,
there hath come unto Muhammad the greatest Nāmūs, even he that would come unto
Moses. Verily Muhammad is the Prophet of this people. Bid him rest assured.” So
Khadījah went home and repeated these words to the Prophet, who now returned in
peace of mind to the cave, that he might fulfill the number of days he had
dedicated to God for his retreat. When this was completed, he went straight to
the Ka’bah, according to his wont, and performed the rite of the rounds, after
which he greeted the old and the blind Waraqah whom he had noticed amongst those
who were sitting in the Mosque; and Waraqah said to him: “Tell me, O son of my
brother, what thou hast seen and heard.” The Prophet told him, and the old man
said again what he had said to Khadījah. But this time he added: “Thou wilt be
called a liar, and ill-treated, and they will cast thee out and make war upon
thee; and if I live to see that day, God knoweth I will help His cause.” Then he
leaned towards him and kissed his forehead, and the Prophet returned to his home.
About the Author
Martin Lings
Martin Lings (1909-2005) was a renowned British scholar who taught at several
European universities and the University of Cairo. He was the keeper of Oriental
manuscripts in the British Museum and the British Library and the author of
numerous books on religion and spirituality, including The Book of Certainty,
What is Sufism?, Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions, and the
internationally acclaimed Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.
Raves and Reviews
“This work is widely recognized as the most readable account of the life of the
Prophet to date.”
– Times of London
"Lings provides a wealth of detail on the life of Muhammad, the time and place
of many Koranic revelations, and the foundation of Islam, all based exclusively
on 8th- and 9th-century Arabic biographical sources and collections of the
sayings attributed to Muhammad. General readers will find a well-written,
straightforward chronological narrative; Muslim readers will appreciate the
favorable treatment of Muhammad; while specialists will find a faithful and
convenient rendering of source material."
– Joseph Gardner, California State Univ. Lib., Northridge Library Journal
“For those interested in Islam . . . it is mesmerizing.”
– Parabola