Lings was born in Burnage, Manchester in 1909 to a Protestant family.

Lings attended Clifton College and went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a BA in English Language and Literature. In 1939, Lings went to Cairo, Egypt, began studying Arabic.Despite having settled comfortably in Egypt, Lings was forced to leave in 1952 after anti-British disturbances Upon 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). biography of Muhammad, written in 1983, which earned him acclaim in the Muslim world and prizes from the governments of Pakistan after then it was translated into French, Italian Spanish, Turkish, dutch , malay, and tamil. Then become the center of attraction in Ashar university in Cairo, the martin His work was hailed as the "best biography of the prophet in English" at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad.[2] He also continued travelling extensively, although he made his home in Kent. He died in 2005.