Brief Biography of Shaykh Siraj ad-Din Abu Bakr Martin Lings (r.a.)
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from Shaykh Siraj ad-Din Abu Bakr Martin Lings’ ( q.s. ) Life & Work . It was in turn adapted from Michael Fitzgerald’s “In Memoriam: Dr. Martin Lings”. Shaykh Martin Lings ( r.a. ) was a leading member of the Traditionalist or Perennialist school and an acclaimed author, editor, translator, scholar, Arabist, and poet whose work centred on the relationship between God and man through religious doctrine, scripture, symbolism, literature, and art. He was an accomplished metaphysician and essayist who often turned to a number of the world’s great spiritual traditions for examples, though he is most likely best known for his writings on Islam and its esoteric tradition, Sufism. Shaykh Martin Lings ( r.a. ) was born in Lancashire, England, in 1909 and received both his BA and his MA from Oxford University in English literature. While at Oxford, Lings began a friendship with Cliv...