author
Sir William Muir
1819–1905
A Scottish administrator and scholar of Islam, he spent decades in British India before returning home to lead the University of Edinburgh. He is best remembered for combining public service with prolific writing on early Islamic history and Christian missionary questions.
2 Audiobooks
Two old faiths : essays on the religions of the Hindus and the Mohammedans
by J. Murray (John Murray) Mitchell, Sir William Muir
About the author
Born in Glasgow on April 27, 1819, he was educated at Kilmarnock Academy and at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh before entering the Bengal Civil Service in 1837. Much of his working life was spent in northern India, where he rose through a series of administrative posts and eventually served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces.
Alongside his government career, he became known as an Orientalist and writer on Islam. His best-known books include The Life of Mahomet and The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall, works that shaped English-language discussion of early Islamic history in the nineteenth century, even as they reflected the strong missionary and colonial attitudes of their time.
After leaving India, he returned to Scotland and served as Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1885 to 1903. He died in Edinburgh on July 11, 1905, leaving behind a legacy that sits at the crossroads of scholarship, empire, and religion.