In 1955, he joined the staff of the British Museum as assistant keeper of oriental printed books and manuscripts; he was keeper from 1970 to 1973, when he was seconded to the British Library. This work focused his interest in Qur'anic calligraphy and he published a classic work on the subject, The Qur'anic Art Of Calligraphy And Illumination, to coincide with the 1976 World of Islam Festival, with which he was closely involved. Lings’ poetic license and inaccuracies regarding certain passages and sourcing have been thoroughly critiqued by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad in a paper available here. In some instances, such as his description of the icons in the Kaa’ba, Lings adds detail with sourceless speculation (like a Christian being “encouraged to paint” inside by the Quraysh). In other places, there are mistranslations or dubious misinterpretations. Shaykh Gibril praises the positive qualities of the book, but also provides a table with problematic passages in the book and his commentary with corrections. His paper serves as a valuable source to cross-reference before or while perusing the book.

Ketika saya sedang mengendarai motor, Fathurrahman sahabat saya di DPPAI menelepon untuk membuat resensi buku “Muhammad” karya Martin Lings. Namun, ketika berpikir tentang Muhammad s.a.w., tiba-tiba yang terlintas dalam benak saya adalah puisi Garuda yang ditulis Emha Ainun Nadjib dan dilantunkan dalam teater tafsir “Tikungan Iblis”, Agustus 2008 silam. Puisi Garuda ini dalam perasaan saya berbicara tentang kesunyian hati. Mungkin ini sekelumit gambaran perasaan Muhammad ketika mendapati generasinya justru lebih paham kisah hidup penyanyi yang ngetop gara-gara Youtube, heroisme Clark Kent dan Naruto Uzumaki, serta “pahlawan” imajiner yang lain dibanding kemuliaan sejarah kerasulannya. Muhammad, sosok yang dicinta oleh umatnya. Namun, tidak sedikit generasi yang tumbuh di tengah ingar-bingar industrialisme ini hanya tahu namanya saja. Perjalanan hidupnya? Rahasia kenabiannya? Atmosfir kesejukannya? Suci karakternya? Beban perjuangannya? Hampir tak ada waktu bagi generasi ini untuk menyelami, apalagi meneladaninya. Kesunyian yang barangkali dialami oleh sekian banyak tokoh, karakter, pribadi masa lampau yang hanya diingat namanya saja, namun cenderung tidak digubris ajarannya.: Garuda itu boleh jadi siapapun yang telah melampaui perjuangan berat untuk generasinya, namun nilai-nilai ajarannya terlupakan oleh generasi yang diperjuangkannya. Muhammad yang oleh Hart diletakkan sebagai manusia paling berpengaruh sepanjang sejarah peradaban, seringkali hanya dikenal namanya oleh generasi Muslim saat ini. Berapa besar generasi Muslim masa kini yang memahami masa kanak-kanak dan remaja Muhammad? Berapa besar generasi Muslim masa kini yang paham sosiologi masyarakat bertumbuhnya Sang Nabi? Berapa besar generasi masa kini yang mampu menghayati ajaran cintanya di tengah kecaman dan boikot kaumnya sendiri? Boleh jadi, Muhammad bagi generasi masa kini adalah “Garuda” yang dijunjung tanpa cinta, dibacakan shalawat oleh lisan namun tanpa hati, dijadikan legitimasi oleh kehausan akan kekuasaan. Dijadikan hiasan maya, bukan oleh siapa-siapa, tapi umatnya sendiri, yang atas nama Muhammad mereka menebar kebencian. Dipuja tapi dihina, dipuja oleh lisan mereka, disanjung oleh motif industri, dinyanyikan dalam pita-pita rekaman, namun diamdiam dalam hati, mereka mengeluh karena merasa berat menjalankan apa yang diwasiatkan. Muhammad, nama yang tak akan pernah lekang dalam labirin zaman. Meski gelombang sejarah terus bergemuruh melempar dan meninggalkan buihnya, nama itu adalah karang yang tak tergoyahkan. Ribuan karya tak akan mampu menampung keagungan karakternya, insan pilihan sepanjang zaman. Sebagai fisik manusia, ia telah hidup lima belas abad yang lalu di sebuah jazirah, sebagai energi dan ruh, ia tak pernah mati, dan tak akan pernah. Manusia intan, begitu sebagian umatnya menyebut namanya. Meskipun intan, ia menyatukan dirinya bersama kerikil-kerikil. Menjadi pendamping mereka yang dipinggirkan oleh arus kekuasaan setiap zaman. Bagai sebuah syi’ir di mushola kecil sebuah desa: Muhammadun Basyarun Laisa Kal Basyari Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad Iku manungso, nanging ora koyo lumrahe Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008 . Retrieved 6 February 2007. W. Montgomery Watt (1984). "Review of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, by M. Lings". Religious Studies. 20 (3): 504–5.

A Spiritual Giant" (PDF) (363ed.). Q News. June 2005 . Retrieved 4 July 2013. [ permanent dead link]

The Eleventh Hour: the Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and Prophecy (2002), Archetype, ISBN 1-901383-01-6 In the desert a man was conscious of being the lord of space, and in virtue of that lordship he escaped in a sense from the domination of time. By striking camp he sloughed off his yesterdays; and tomorrow seemed less of a fatality if its where as well as its when had yet to come. But the townsman was a prisoner; and to be fixed in one place, yesterday, today, tomorrow – was to be a target for time, the ruiner of all things. Towns were places of corruption. Sloth and slovenliness lurked in the shadow of their walls, ready to take the edge off a man’s alertness and vigilance. Everything decayed there, even language, one of man’s most precious possessions. Few of the Arabs could read, but beauty of speech was a virtue which all Arab parents desired for their children. A man’s worth was largely assessed by his eloquence, and the crown of eloquence was poetry. To have a great poet in the family was indeed something to be proud of; and the best poets were nearly always from one or another of the desert tribes, for it was in the desert that the spoken language was nearest to poetry. So the bond with the desert had to be renewed in every generation – fresh air for the breast, pure Arabic for the tongue, freedom for the soul; and many of the sons of Quraysh were kept as long as eight years in the desert, so that it might make a lasting impression upon them, though a lesser number of years was enough for that. [3] Word of Caution Lings’ thoroughly confused attempt at forcing those of the right, the righteous, the slaves of God and the foremost into his own special concept of a spiritual hierarchy (LXXXI, 329, 2) stems from a similar penchant for speculative originality in disregard of qualified sources.

The word seerah linguistically means a path. In referring to a person’s life, it refers to the path they have traversed. The seerah of the Prophet ﷺ is its own genre of literature: a realm of study with principles, codification, and systems. It encompasses all of that which is associated with the life and times of the Prophet ﷺ. Within seerah literature, there are different sub-genres, including the shama’il (collection of Hadiths about the appearance, mannerisms, belongings, etc. of the Prophet ﷺ), wives of the Prophet ﷺ, comparative literature looking at the Mecca and Medina years, military expeditions, and much more. Hernandez, Aaminah (14 July 2005). "Best Biographies of the Prophet Muhammad". OnIslam . Retrieved 1 July 2013. a b c d e "Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources: Revised Edition: Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din)". Islamic Bookstore.com . Retrieved 1 July 2013. Muhammad ﷺ : His Life Based On The Earliest Sources by Martin Lings is a beautiful place to further personal engagement with the seerah, but one should also keep in mind Shaykh Abdul Nasir’s advice: “Independent reading is important, but soul-to-soul transmission of authentic and academically sound information is of utmost importance.”[2]