About the Author

Martin Lings s Life of Muhammad is unlike any other. Based on Arabic sources of the eighth and ninth centu ries, of which some important passages are translated here for the first time, it owes the freshness and direct ness of its approach to the words of the 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 something that can be read with equal enjoyment by those already familiar with Muhammad s life and those coming to it for the first time