This collection of the essential writings of Martin Lings brings together some of the most outstanding chapters from his wide range of works. In addition to selections dealing with the perennial philosophy, such as “Do the Religions Contradict One Another?”, the anthology includes sections from Lings' writings on Islam and Sufism, notably his magisterial account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad; his acclaimed biography of the Algerian Sufi master Ahmad al-ʿAlawi; his pioneering work on the Quranic art of calligraphy and illumination; and his celebrated translations (from the Arabic) of classics from the field of Sufi mystical poetry. Also featured are selections on the spiritual dimensions to be found in the mature plays of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet.

Martin Lings (1909–2005), the former Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, was a leading member of the perennialist school and a renowned author, editor, translator, scholar, Arabist, and poet. After a classical education he read English at Oxford where he was a pupil and later a close friend of C. S. Lewis. Lings is the author of several award-winning books on subjects ranging from Sufism to Shakespeare, including A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-ʿAlawi,His Spiritual Heritage and Legacy, the best-selling Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (translated into over a dozen languages), and Shakespeare in the Light of Sacred Art.

Reza Shah-Kazemi (b. 1960) is an author in the fields of Islamic studies and Comparative Religion. He is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, and has been involved in important interfaith initiatives for the last two decades. He has edited, translated, and written numerous books and articles, including Paths to Transcendence according to Shankara, Ibn Arabi & Meister Eckhart, the award-winning Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali, and Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism, which was prefaced and launched by HH The Dalai Lama. Shah-Kazemi lives in Westerham in the south of England.

Editor’s Preface vii

Metaphysics

Oneness of Being 3

The Symbolism of the Letters of the Alphabet 13

Hermeneutics

The Truth of Certainty 27

The Fall 35

The Symbol 41

The Seal of Solomon 43

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil 53

What is Symbolism? 56

The Decisive Boundary 65

The Symbolism of the Pairs 70

Tradition and Modernity

The Past in the Light of the Present 81

The Spirit of the Times 94

Do the Religions Contradict One Another? 121

Traditional Psychology

The Secret of Shakespeare 133

Why “With All Thy Mind”? 141

Islam

The Spiritual Master 159

The Originality of Sufism 183

The Universality of Sufism 188

The Heart 194

Introduction to Splendours of Qur’ān Calligraphy

and Illumination 209

The Qur’ānic Art of Calligraphy 212

The Qur’ānic Art of Illumination 218

Selections from Muhammad: His Life Based on the

Earliest Sources

I The House of God 230

VIII The Desert 234

X Baḥīrà the Monk 239

XIII The Household 242

XV The First Revelations 248

XXXVII The Hijrah 252

LXVII “A Clear Victory” 259

LXXV The Conquest of Mecca 265

LXXXI The Degrees 274

LXXXIV The Choice 279

Art and Poetry

Hamlet 289

The Meeting Place 327

Translations from the Arabic

Al-Ghazālī, Deathbed Poem 329

ʿUmar Ibn al-Fāriḍ, The Wine-Song

(Al-Khamriyya) 330

Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī, The Path 334

Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī, The Wine 335

Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī, Laylā 336

List of Sources 337

Bibliography 339

Biographical Notes 341

Index 342