After completing his doctorate in 1959, Lings worked at the British Museum and later the British Library, overseeing eastern manuscripts and other textual works, rising to the position of Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts 1970–73. His doctoral thesis became a book on Algerian Sufi Ahmad al-Alawi. On returning to the United Kingdom he continued his education, earning a BA in Arabic and a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). Despite having settled comfortably in Egypt, Lings was forced to leave in 1952 after anti-British disturbances. Lings married Lesley Smalley in 1944 and lived with her in a village near the pyramids. Cairo became his home for over a decade he became an English language teacher at the University of Cairo and produced Shakespeare plays annually.

Soon after arriving in Cairo, his friend died and Lings began studying Arabic. In 1939, Lings went to Cairo, Egypt, to visit a friend who was an assistant of René Guénon. Thereafter, Lings remained Schuon's disciple and expositor for the rest of his life. This prompted his embracing Islam to embrace the branch of the Alawiyya tariqa led by Schuon. In 1938, Lings went to Basel to make Schuon's acquaintance. įor Lings himself, however, the most important event whilst at Oxford was his discovery of the writings of the René Guénon, a French metaphysician and Muslim convert, and those of Frithjof Schuon, a German spiritual authority, metaphysician and Perennialist. After graduating from Oxford Lings went to Vytautas Magnus University, in Lithuania, where he taught Anglo-Saxon and Middle English. At Magdalen, he was a student and then a close friend of C. Lings attended Clifton College and went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a BA in English Language and Literature.

The young Lings gained an introduction to travelling at a young age, spending significant time in the United States because of his father's employment. Lings was born in Burnage, Manchester, in 1909 to a Protestant family.

Martin lings biography