Sir William Muir

author

Sir William Muir

1819–1905

A Scottish civil servant, scholar, and missionary-minded writer, he spent much of his career in British India and became one of the best-known English-language biographers of Muhammad. His life joined imperial administration, academic leadership, and a lasting—if debated—role in 19th-century Oriental studies.

2 Audiobooks

Two old faiths : essays on the religions of the Hindus and the Mohammedans

Two old faiths : essays on the religions of the Hindus and the Mohammedans

by J. Murray (John Murray) Mitchell, Sir William Muir

Annals of the early Caliphate from the death of Mahomet to the Omeyyad and Abbaside dynasties A.H. XI-LXI (A.D. 632-680) from original sources

Annals of the early Caliphate from the death of Mahomet to the Omeyyad and Abbaside dynasties A.H. XI-LXI (A.D. 632-680) from original sources

by Sir William Muir

About the author

Born in Glasgow on April 27, 1819, he was educated at Kilmarnock Academy, the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and Haileybury College before entering the Bengal Civil Service in 1837. In India he served in several important posts, including work in the North-West Provinces, and later became foreign secretary to the Government of India. He was knighted in 1867 and went on to serve as lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces.

After returning to Britain, he became closely associated with the University of Edinburgh, serving as principal and vice-chancellor from 1885 to 1903. Alongside his public career, he wrote extensively on early Islam and the life of Muhammad, with works that were widely read in his time.

He died in 1905. Today he is remembered both for the scale of his scholarship and for the strong Victorian outlook that shaped it, which means his writings are often approached as historically important but also very much of their era.