In speaking of the majority, it says: Not blind are the eyes, but blind are the hearts within the breasts.” The commentaries are clear that it is not “the majority” at all who are meant but the disbelievers in general, and the disbelievers of Mecca at the time of the Prophet in particular.

However, Lings turns this notion into a skewed elitism which characterizes the massive majority of people as blind (LXXXI, 329, 3): “Degrees of superiority are also implied by the Revelation in its mention of the heart. Inherent in the reality of degrees and levels in the Religion is the notion of the elite of humankind, the Believers, and the elite of the Believers, the Friends of God. Lings is at his weakest in one of his final chapters entitled “The Degrees” (LXXXI), which is replete with incautious interpretations or misreporting of Quran and Hadith. Another such misinterpretation is the “Kaba icon” episode. One of them is the “lightly clad” Zaynab scene – in his defense an error of taste that predates him but an error, nevertheless, that “betokens ignorance of the immense rights and merits of the Prophet” according to Qadi Abu Muhammad al-Qushayri al-Maliki as cited by Qadi Iyad. He defended them in reprint after reprint by beefing up his footnotes with references he thought provided enough justification.

There are two or three more momentous misinterpretations in Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources. Consequently, his constant embroidery detracts from the reliability of his book and, much as it is meant to enhance reading, brings it down to the romance level from which its title-page homage to “the earliest sources” had promised to exempt it. It it is fair to say Lings often has more imagination than knowledge of what he describes and never takes to heart the absolute prohibition of fiction in Islam with regard to the Prophet. 'Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources from all other serious Prophetic biographies.

Seerah martin lings