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Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (/ˈɪbən xælˈduːn/; Arabic: ‫أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن‬
Ibn Khaldun
‫خلدون الحضرمي‬, Abū Zayd ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn
Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 AH)
was an Arab sociologist, philosopher, and historian[11][12] widely
acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle
Ages,[13] and considered by many to be the father of historiography,
sociology, economics, and demography studies.[14][15][note 1][16][note 2]

His best-known book, the Muqaddimah or Prolegomena


("Introduction"), which he wrote in six months as he states in his
autobiography,[17] influenced 17th-century and 19th-century Ottoman
historians such as Kâtip Çelebi, Mustafa Naima and Ahmed Cevdet
Pasha, who used its theories to analyze the growth and decline of the
Ottoman Empire.[18] Ibn Khaldun interacted with Tamerlane, the
founder of the Timurid Empire.

He has been called one of the most prominent Muslim and Arab
scholars and historians.[19][20][21] Recently, Ibn Khaldun's works have
been compared with those of influential European philosophers such as
Niccolò Machiavelli, Giambattista Vico, David Hume, G. W. F. Hegel,
Bust of Ibn Khaldun in the entrance
Karl Marx, and Auguste Comte as well as the economists David Ricardo
of the Kasbah of Bejaia, Algeria
and Adam Smith, suggesting that their ideas found precedent (although
not direct influence) in his. He has also been influential on certain Personal
modern Islamic thinkers (e.g. those of the traditionalist school). Born 27 May 1332
Tunis, Hafsid
Family Sultanate
Died 17 March 1406
Ibn Khaldun's life is relatively well-documented, as he wrote an (aged 73)
autobiography (‫التعريف بابن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا‬, at-Taʻrīf bi-ibn Cairo, Mamluk
Khaldūn wa-Riḥlatih Gharban wa-Sharqan[23]) ("Presenting Ibn
Sultanate
Khaldun and his Journey West and East") in which numerous
documents regarding his life are quoted word-for-word. Religion Islam
Denomination Sunni[1]
Abdurahman bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Al-
Hasan bin Jabir bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Abdurahman bin Ibn Jurisprudence Maliki[2]
Khaldun al-Hadrami, generally known as "Ibn Khaldūn" after a remote Creed Ash'ari[3][4]
ancestor, was born in Tunis in AD 1332 (732 AH) into an upper-class Main Historiography,
Andalusian family of Arab descent;[24] the family's ancestor was a interest(s) sociology,
Hadhrami who shared kinship with Waíl ibn Hujr, a companion of the
economics,
Islamic prophet Muhammad. His family, which held many high offices
demography,
in Al-Andalus, had emigrated to Tunisia after the fall of Seville to the
Reconquista in AD 1248. Although some of his family members had political science

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held political office in the Tunisian Hafsid dynasty, his father and Notable Asabiyyah
grandfather later withdrew from political life and joined a mystical idea(s) Conquest theory of
order. His brother, Yahya Khaldun, was also a historian who wrote a
state formation
book on the Abdalwadid dynasty and was assassinated by a rival for
being the official historiographer of the court.[25] Cyclical theory of
empires
In his autobiography, Khaldun traces his descent back to the time of Economic growth
Muhammad through an Arab tribe from the south of the Arabian theory[5]
Peninsula, specifically the Hadhramaut, which came to the Iberian
Peninsula in the 8th century, at the beginning of the Islamic conquest: Supply and
"And our ancestry is from Hadhramaut, from the Arabs of Arabian demand theory[6]
Peninsula, via Wa'il ibn Hujr also known as Hujr ibn 'Adi, from the best Supply-side
of the Arabs, well-known and respected." (p. 2429, Al-Waraq's edition). economics

Ibn Khaldun's insistence and attachment to his claim of Arab ancestry at Muslim leader
a time of Berber dynasties domination is a valid reason to believe his Influenced by [show]
claim of Arab descent .[26][27] Al-Farabi[7] · Al-Ghazali[4] · Al-
Jahiz[8] · Al-Razi[4] · Al-Tusi ·
Education Aristotle · At-Turtushi[9] · Avempace
· Averroes[4] · Avicenna[4] · Ibn Abi
His family's high rank enabled Ibn Khaldun to study with prominent Zar · Ibn Hazm · Ibn Jarir · Al-
teachers in Maghreb. He received a classical Islamic education, studying Mawardi[10]
the Quran, which he memorized by heart, Arabic linguistics; the basis
for understanding the Qur'an, hadith, sharia (law) and fiqh Influenced [show]
(jurisprudence). He received certification (ijazah) for all of those Ibn al-Khatib · Ibn al-Sakkak · Al-
subjects.[28] The mathematician and philosopher Al-Abili of Tlemcen Maqrizi · Ibn al-Azraq · Çelebi ·
introduced him to mathematics, logic and philosophy, and he studied Mustafa Naima · Ahmed Cevdet ·
especially the works of Averroes, Avicenna, Razi and Tusi. At the age of 20th-century traditionalism ·
17, Ibn Khaldūn lost both his parents to the Black Death, an Toynbee · Orowan · Amel · Comte
intercontinental epidemic of the plague that hit Tunis in 1348–1349.[29]

Following family tradition, he strove for a political career. In the face of a tumultuous political situation in
North Africa, that required a high degree of skill in developing and dropping alliances prudently to avoid falling
with the short-lived regimes of the time.[30] Ibn Khaldūn's autobiography is the story of an adventure, in which
he spends time in prison, reaches the highest offices and falls again into exile.

Political career
At the age of 20, he began his political career in the chancellery of the Tunisian ruler Ibn Tafrakin with the
position of Kātib al-'Alāmah (seal-bearer),[31] which consisted of writing in fine calligraphy the typical
introductory notes of official documents. In 1352, Abū Ziad, the sultan of Constantine, marched on Tunis and
defeated it. Ibn Khaldūn, in any case unhappy with his respected but politically meaningless position, followed
his teacher Abili to Fez. There, the Marinid sultan, Abū Inan Fares I, appointed him as a writer of royal
proclamations, but Ibn Khaldūn still schemed against his employer, which, in 1357, got the 25-year-old a 22-
month prison sentence. Upon the death of Abū Inan in 1358, Vizier al-Hasān ibn-Umar granted him freedom
and reinstated him to his rank and offices. Ibn Khaldūn then schemed against Abū Inan's successor, Abū Salem
Ibrahim III, with Abū Salem's exiled uncle, Abū Salem. When Abū Salem came to power, he gave Ibn Khaldūn
a ministerial position, the first position to correspond with Ibn Khaldūn's ambitions.

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The treatment that Ibn Khaldun received after the fall of Abū Salem through
Ibn-Amar ʻAbdullah, a friend of Ibn Khaldūn's, was not to his liking, as he
received no significant official position. At the same time, Amar
successfully prevented Ibn Khaldūn, whose political skills he knew well,
from allying with the Abd al-Wadids in Tlemcen. Ibn Khaldūn, therefore,
decided to move to Granada. He could be sure of a positive welcome there
since at Fez, he had helped the Sultan of Granada, the Nasrid Muhammad V,
regain power from his temporary exile. In 1364, Muhammad entrusted him
with a diplomatic mission to the king of Castile, Pedro the Cruel, to endorse
a peace treaty. Ibn Khaldūn successfully carried out this mission and politely
declined Pedro's offer to remain at his court and have his family's Spanish
possessions returned to him.

In Granada, Ibn Khaldūn quickly came into competition with Muhammad's


vizier, Ibn al-Khatib, who viewed the close relationship between
Muhammad and Ibn Khaldūn with increasing mistrust. Ibn Khaldūn tried to
shape the young Muhammad into his ideal of a wise ruler, an enterprise that Ibn Khaldun – Life-size bronze
Ibn al-Khatib thought foolish and a danger to peace in the country. History bust sculpture of Ibn Khaldun
proved al-Khatib right, and at his instigation, Ibn Khaldūn was eventually that is part of the collection at
sent back to North Africa. Al-Khatib himself was later accused by the Arab American National
Muhammad of having unorthodox philosophical views and murdered Museum (Catalog Number
despite an attempt by Ibn Khaldūn to intercede on behalf of his old rival. 2010.02). Commissioned by The
Tunisian Community Center and
In his autobiography, Ibn Khaldūn tells little about his conflict with Ibn al-
Created by Patrick Morelli of
Khatib and the reasons for his departure. Orientalist Muhsin Mahdi Albany, NY in 2009. It was
interprets that as showing that Ibn Khaldūn later realised that he had inspired by the statue of Ibn
completely misjudged Muhammad V. Khaldun erected at the Avenue
Habib Bourguiba in Tunis.[22]
Back in Ifriqiya, the Hafsid sultan of Bougie, Abū ʻAbdallāh, who had been
his companion in prison, received him with great enthusiasm and made
Ibn Khaldūn his prime minister. Ibn Khaldūn carried out a daring mission
to collect taxes among the local Berber tribes. After the death of Abū
ʻAbdallāh in 1366, Ibn Khaldūn changed sides once again and allied
himself with the Sultan of Tlemcen, Abū l-Abbas. A few years later, he
was taken prisoner by Abu Faris Abdul Aziz, who had defeated the
sultan of Tlemcen and seized the throne. He then entered a monastic
establishment and occupied himself with scholastic duties until 1370. In
that year, he was sent for to Tlemcen by the new sultan. After the death
of ʻAbdu l-Azīz, he resided at Fez, enjoying the patronage and
confidence of the regent. Birth home of Ibn Khaldun at Tunis

Ibn Khaldūn's political skills and, above all, his good relationship with
the wild Berber tribes were in high demand among the North African rulers, but he had begun to tire of politics
and constantly switching allegiances. In 1375, he was sent by Abū Hammu, the ʻAbdu l Wadid Sultan of
Tlemcen, on a mission to the Dawadida Arabs tribes of Biskra. After his return to the West, Ibn Khaldūn sought
refuge with one of the Berber tribes in the west of Algeria, in the town of Qalat Ibn Salama. He lived there for
over three years under their protection, taking advantage of his seclusion to write the Muqaddimah
"Prolegomena", the introduction to his planned history of the world. In Ibn Salama, however, he lacked the
necessary texts to complete the work.[32] Therefore, in 1378, he returned to his native Tunis, which had
meanwhile been conquered by Abū l-Abbas, who took Ibn Khaldūn back into his service. There, he devoted
himself almost exclusively to his studies and completed his history of the world. His relationship with Abū l-
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Abbas remained strained, as the latter questioned his loyalty. That was
brought into sharp contrast after Ibn Khaldūn presented him with a copy
of the completed history that omitted the usual panegyric to the ruler.
Under pretence of going on the Hajj to Mecca, something for which a
Muslim ruler could not simply refuse permission, Ibn Khaldūn was able
to leave Tunis and to sail to Alexandria.

Later life
Ibn Khaldun said of Egypt, "He who has not seen it does not know the
power of Islam."[33] While other Islamic regions had to cope with border
wars and inner strife, Mamluk Egypt enjoyed prosperity and high culture.
In 1384, the Egyptian Sultan, al-Malik udh-Dhahir Barquq, made
Khaldun professor of the Qamhiyyah Madrasah and appointed him as the
Grand qadi of the Maliki school of fiqh (one of four schools, the Maliki
school was widespread primarily in Western Africa). His efforts at The mosque in which Ibn Khaldun
reform encountered resistance, however, and within a year, he had to studied
resign his judgeship. Also in 1384, a ship carrying Khaldun's wife and
children sank off of Alexandria.

After his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca in May 1388, Ibn Khaldūn
concentrated on teaching at various Cairo madrasas. At the Mamluk
court he fell from favor because during revolts against Barquq, he had,
apparently under duress, with other Cairo jurists, issued a fatwa against
Barquq. Later relations with Barquq returned to normal, and he was once
again named the Maliki qadi. Altogether, he was called six times to that
high office, which, for various reasons, he never held long.

In 1401, under Barquq's successor, his son Faraj, Ibn Khaldūn took part
in a military campaign against the Mongol conqueror, Timur, who
besieged Damascus in 1400. Ibn Khaldūn cast doubt upon the viability of
the venture and really wanted to stay in Egypt. His doubts were
vindicated, as the young and inexperienced Faraj, concerned about a
revolt in Egypt, left his army to its own devices in Syria and hurried
home. Ibn Khaldūn remained at the besieged city for seven weeks, being
lowered over the city wall by ropes to negotiate with Timur, in a historic Ibn Khaldun Statue and Square,
series of meetings that he reported extensively in his autobiography. [34] Mohandessin, Cairo
Timur questioned him in detail about conditions in the lands of the
Maghreb. At his request, Ibn Khaldūn even wrote a long report about it.
As he recognized Timur's intentions, he did not hesitate, on his return to Egypt, to compose an equally-
extensive report on the history of the Tatars, together with a character study of Timur, sending them to the
Merinid rulers in Fez.

Ibn Khaldūn spent the next five years in Cairo completing his autobiography and his history of the world and
acting as teacher and judge. Meanwhile, he was alleged to have joined an underground party, Rijal Hawa Rijal,
whose reform-oriented ideals attracted the attention of local political authorities. The elderly Ibn Khaldun was
placed under arrest. He died on 17 March 1406, one month after his sixth selection for the office of the Maliki
qadi (Judge).

Works
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al-Muqaddima and the rest of Kitāb al-ʻIbar


Kitāb al-ʻIbar, (full title: Kitāb al-ʻIbar wa-Dīwān al-Mubtadaʼ
wa-l-Khabar fī Taʼrīkh al-ʻArab wa-l-Barbar wa-Man ʻĀṣarahum
min Dhawī ash-Shaʼn al-Akbār "Book of Lessons, Record of
Beginnings and Events in the History of the Arabs and the
Berbers and Their Powerful Contemporaries"); begun as a
history of the Berbers and expanded to a universal history in
seven books.[35][36]
Handwriting of Ibn Khaldūn
Book 1; Al-Muqaddima ('The Introduction'), a socio-
certifying a manuscript copy of al-
economic-geographical universal history of empires, and the
Muqaddima, MS Atif Efendi 1936, f.
best known of his works.[37]
7a
Books 2–5; World History up to the author's own time.
Books 6–7; Historiography of the Berbers and the Maghreb.
Khaldun departs from the classical style of Arab
historians[note 3] by synthesising multiple, sometimes contradictory, sources without citations.[38]
He reproduces some errors originating probably from his 14th-century Fez source, the work
Rawḍ al-Qirṭās by Ibn Abi Zar, yet Al-'Ibar remains an invaluable source of Berber history.

Concerning the discipline of sociology, he Businesses owned by responsible and organized merchants shall
described the dichotomy of sedentary life eventually surpass those owned by wealthy rulers.[39]
versus nomadic life as well as the inevitable Ibn Khaldun on economic growth and the ideals of Platonism
loss of power that occurs when warriors
conquer a city. According to the Arab scholar Sati' al-Husri, the Muqaddimah may be read as a sociological
work. The work is based around Ibn Khaldun's central concept of 'aṣabiyyah, which has been translated as
"social cohesion", "group solidarity", or "tribalism". This social cohesion arises spontaneously in tribes and
other small kinship groups; it can be intensified and enlarged by a religious ideology. Ibn Khaldun's analysis
looks at how this cohesion carries groups to power but contains within itself the seeds – psychological,
sociological, economic, political – of the group's downfall, to be replaced by a new group, dynasty or empire
bound by a stronger (or at least younger and more vigorous) cohesion. Some of Ibn Khaldun's views,
particularly those concerning the Zanj people of sub-Saharan Africa,[40] have been cited as racist,[41] though
they were not uncommon for their time. According to the scholar Abdelmajid Hannoum, Ibn Khaldun's
description of the distinctions between Berbers and Arabs were misinterpreted by the translator William
McGuckin de Slane, who wrongly inserted a "racial ideology that sets Arabs and Berbers apart and in
opposition" into his translation of part of`Ibar translated under the title Histoire des Berbères.[42]

Perhaps the most frequently cited observation drawn from Ibn Khaldūn's work is the notion that when a society
becomes a great civilization, its high point is followed by a period of decay. This means that the next cohesive
group that conquers the diminished civilization is, by comparison, a group of barbarians. Once the barbarians
solidify their control over the conquered society, however, they become attracted to its more refined aspects,
such as literacy and arts, and either assimilate into or appropriate such cultural practices. Then, eventually, the
former barbarians will be conquered by a new set of barbarians, who will repeat the process.

Georgetown University Professor Ibrahim Oweiss, an economist and historian, argues that Ibn Khaldun was a
major forerunner of modern economists and, in particular, originated the labor theory of value long before better
known proponents such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo, although Khaldun did not refer to it as either a
labor theory of value or theory.[43]

Ibn Khaldun also called for the creation of a science to explain society and went on to outline these ideas in his
major work, the Muqaddimah, which states that “Civilization and its well-being, as well as business prosperity,
depend on productivity and people’s efforts in all directions in their own interest and profit”.[44]
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Ibn Khaldun diverged from norms that Muslim historians followed and rejected their focus on the credibility of
the transmitter and focused instead on the validity of the stories and encouraged critical thinking.[45]

Ibn Khaldun also outlines early theories of division of labor, taxes, scarcity, and economic growth.[46]

He argued that poverty was a result of the destruction of morality and human values. He also looked at what
factors contribute to wealth, such as consumption, government, and investment. Khaldun also argued that
poverty was not necessarily a result of poor financial decision-making but of external consequences and
therefore the government should be involved in alleviating poverty. Researchers from Malaysia's Insaniah
University College and Indonesia's Tazkia University College of Islamic Economics created a dynamics model
based upon Ibn Khaldun's writings to measure poverty in the Muslim nations of South Asia and Southeast
Asia.[47]

Ibn Khaldun also believed that the currency of an Islamic monetary system should have intrinsic value and
therefore be made of gold and silver (such as the dirham). He emphasized that the weight and purity of these
coins should be strictly followed: the weight of one dinar should be one mithqal (the weight of 72 grains of
barley, roughly 4.25 grams) and the weight of 7 dinar should be equal to weight of 10 dirhams (7/10 of a
mithqal or 2.96 grams).[48]

Ibn Khaldun's writings regarding the division of labor are often compared to Adam Smith's writings on the
topic.

The individual being cannot by himself obtain all the necessities of life. All human beings must co-
operate to that end in their civilization. But what is obtained by the cooperation of a group of
human beings satisfies the need of a number many times greater than themselves. For instance, no
one by himself can obtain the share of the wheat he needs for food. But when six or ten persons,
including a smith and a carpenter to make the tools, and others who are in charge of the oxen, the
ploughing of, the harvesting of the ripe grain, and all other agricultural activities, undertake to
obtain their food and work toward that purpose either separately or collectively and thus obtain
through their labour a certain amount of food, that amount will be food for a number of people
many times their own. The combined labour produces more than the needs and necessities of the
workers (Ibn Khaldun 1958, vol. II 271–272)[49]

In every other art and manufacture, the effects of the division of labour are similar to what they are
in this very trifling one [pin production]; though, in many of them, the labour can either be so much
subdivided, nor reduced to so great a simplicity of operation. The division of labour, however, so
far as it can be introduced, occasions, in every art, a proportionable increase of the productive
powers of labour (Smith 1976a, vol. I, 13–24)[49]

Both Ibn Khaldun and Smith shared the idea that the division of labor is fundamental to economic growth,
however, the motivations and context for such division differed between them. For Ibn Khaldun, asabiyyah or
social solidarity was the underlying motive and context behind the division of labor; for Smith it was self-
interest and the market economy.[49]

Social thought

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Ibn Khaldun's epistemology attempted to reconcile mysticism with theology by dividing science into two
different categories, the religious science that regards the sciences of the Qur'an and the non-religious science.
He further classified the non-religious sciences into intellectual sciences such as logic, arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, etc. and auxiliary sciences such as language, literature, poetry, etc. He also suggested that possibly
more divisions will appear in the future with different societies. He tried to adapt to all possible societies’
cultural behavior and influence in education, economics and politics. Nonetheless, he didn't think that laws were
chosen by just one leader or a small group of individual but mostly by the majority of the individuals of a
society.[50]

To Ibn Khaldun, the state was a necessity of human society to restrain injustice within the society, but the state
means is force, thus itself an injustice. All societies must have a state governing them in order to establish a
society. He attempted to standardize the history of societies by identifying ubiquitous phenomena present in all
societies. To him, civilization was a phenomenon that will be present as long as humans exist. He characterized
the fulfillment of basic needs as the beginning of civilization. At the beginning, people will look for different
ways of increasing productivity of basic needs and expansion will occur. Later the society starts becoming more
sedentary and focuses more on crafting, arts and the more refined characteristics. By the end of a society, it will
weaken, allowing another small group of individuals to come into control. The conquering group is described as
an unsatisfied group within the society itself or a group of desert bandits that constantly attack other weaker or
weakened societies.

In the Muqaddimah, his most important work, he discusses an introduction of philosophy to history in a general
manner, based on observable patterns within a theoretical framework of known historical events of his time. He
described the beginnings, development, cultural trends and the fall of all societies, leading to the rise of a new
society which would then follow the same trends in a continuous cycle. Also, he recommended the best political
approaches to develop a society according to his knowledge of history. He heavily emphasized that a good
society would be one in which a tradition of education is deeply rooted in its culture.[31] Ibn Khaldun (1987)
introduced the word asabiya (solidarity, group feeling, or group consciousness), to explain tribalism. The
concept of asabiya has been translated as "social cohesion," "group solidarity," or "tribalism." This social
cohesion arises spontaneously in tribes and other small kinship groups (Rashed,2017).

Ibn Khaldun believed that too much bureaucracy, such as taxes and legislations, would lead to the decline of a
society, since it would constrain the development of more specialized labor (increase in scholars and
development of different services). He believed that bureaucrats cannot understand the world of commerce and
do not possess the same motivation as a businessman.[31]

In his work the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun emphasizes human beings' faculty to think (fikr) as what determines
human behavior and ubiquitous patterns. This faculty is also what inspires human beings to form into a social
structure to co-operate in division of labor and organization. According to Zaid Ahmand in Epistemology and
the Human Dimension in Urban Studies, the fikr faculty is the supporting pillar for all philosophical aspects of
Ibn Khaldun's theory related to human beings’ spiritual, intellectual, physical, social and political tendencies.

Another important concept he emphasizes in his work is the mastery of crafts, habits and skills. This takes place
after a society is established and according to Ibn Khaldun the level of achievement of a society can be
determined by just analyzing these three concepts. A society in its earliest stages is nomadic and primarily
concerned with survival, while a society at a later stage is sedentary, with greater achievement in crafts. A
society with a sedentary culture and stable politics would be expected to have greater achievements in crafts and
technology.[31]

Ibn Khaldun also emphasized in his epistemology the important aspect that educational tradition plays to ensure
the new generations of a civilization continuously improve in the sciences and develop culture. Ibn Khaldun
argued that without the strong establishment of an educational tradition, it would be very difficult for the new

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generations to maintain the achievements of the earlier generations, let alone improve them.

Another way to distinguish the achievement of a society would be the language of a society, since for him the
most important element of a society would not be land, but the language spoken. He was surprised that many
non-Arabs were really successful in the Arabic society, had good jobs and were well received by the
community. "These people were non-Arab by descent, but they grew up among the Arabs who possessed the
habit of Arabic," Ibn Khaldun once recalled, "[b]ecause of this, they were able to master Arabic so well that
they cannot be surpassed."[51] He believed that the reason why non-Arabs were accepted as part of Arab society
was due to their mastery of the Arabic language.

Advancements in literary works such as poems and prose were another way to distinguish the achievement of a
civilization, but Ibn Khaldun believed that whenever the literary facet of a society reaches its highest levels it
ceases to indicate societal achievements anymore, but is an embellishment of life. For logical sciences he
established knowledge at its highest level as an increase of scholars and the quality of knowledge. For him the
highest level of literary productions would be the manifestation of prose, poems and the artistic enrichment of a
society.[52]

Minor works

From other sources we know of several other works, primarily composed during the time he spent in North
Africa and Al-Andalus. His first book, Lubābu l-Muhassal, a commentary on the Islamic theology of Fakhr al-
Din al-Razi, was written at the age of 19 under the supervision of his teacher Al-Abili in Tunis. A work on
Sufism, Shifā'u l-Sā'il, was composed around 1373 in Fes, Morocco. Whilst at the court of Muhammed V,
Sultan of Granada, Ibn Khaldūn composed a work on logic, ʻallaqa li-s-Sulṭān.

Legacy

Egypt

Ibn Khaldun's historical method had very few precedents or followers in


his time. While Ibn Khaldun is known to have been a successful lecturer
on jurisprudence within religious sciences, only very few of his students
were aware of, and influenced by, his Muqaddimah.[56] One such
student, Al-Maqrizi, praised the Muqaddimah, although some scholars
have found his praise, and that of others, to be generally empty and A Laffer Curve with a maximum
lacking understanding of Ibn Khaldun's methods.[56] revenue point at around a 70%, as
estimated by Trabandt and Uhlig
Ibn Khaldun also faced primarily criticism from his contemporaries, (2009).[53] Laffer cites Ibn Khaldun's
particularly Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani. These criticisms included accusations observation that "at the beginning of
of inadequate historical knowledge, an inaccurate title, disorganization, the dynasty, taxation yields a large
and a style resembling that of the prolific Arab literature writer, Al-Jahiz. revenue from small assessments.
Al-Asqalani also noted that Ibn Khaldun was not well-liked in Egypt At the end of the dynasty, taxation
because he opposed many respected traditions, including the traditional yields a small revenue from large
judicial dress, and suggested that this may have contributed to the assessments."[54][55]
reception of Ibn Khaldun's historical works.[56] The notable exception to
this consensus was Ibn al-Azraq, a jurist who lived shortly after Ibn
Khaldun and quoted heavily from the first and fourth books of the Kitab al-‘Ibar, in developing a work of
mirrors for princes.[56]

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Ottoman Empire

Ibn Khaldun's work found some recognition with Ottoman intellectuals in the 17th century. The first references
to Ibn Khaldun in Ottoman writings appeared in the middle of the 17th century, with historians such as Kâtip
Çelebi naming him as a great influence, while another Turkish Ottoman historian, Mustafa Naima, attempted to
use Ibn Khaldun's cyclical theory of the rise and fall of empires to describe the Ottoman Empire.[56] Increasing
perceptions of the decline of the Ottoman Empire also caused similar ideas to appear independently of Ibn
Khaldun in the 16th century, and may explain some of the influence of his works.[56]

Europe

In Europe, Ibn Khaldun was first brought to the attention of the Western world in 1697, when a biography of
him appeared in Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville's Bibliothèque Orientale. However, some scholars
believe that Ibn Khaldun's work may have first been introduced to Europe via Ibn Arabshah's biography of
Tamerlane, translated to Latin, which covers a meeting between Ibn Khaldun and Tamerlane.[57] According to
Ibn Arabshah, during this meeting, Ibn Khaldun and Tamerlane discussed the Maghrib in depth, as well as
Tamerlane's genealogy and place in history.[58] Ibn Khaldun began gaining more attention from 1806, when
Silvestre de Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe included his biography together with a translation of parts of the
Muqaddimah as the Prolegomena.[59] In 1816, de Sacy again published a biography with a more detailed
description on the Prolegomena.[60] More details on and partial translations of the Prolegomena emerged over
the years until the complete Arabic edition was published in 1858. Since then, the work of Ibn Khaldun has
been extensively studied in the Western world with special interest.[61] Reynold A. Nicholson praised Ibn
Khaldun as a uniquely brilliant Muslim sociologist, but discounted Khaldun's influence.[57] Spanish Philosopher
José Ortega y Gasset viewed the conflicts of North Africa as a problem that stemmed from a lack of African
thought, and praised Ibn Khaldun for making sense of the conflict by simplifying it to the relationship between
the nomadic and sedentary modes of life.[57]

Modern historians

British historian Arnold J. Toynbee has called Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah "the greatest work of its kind."[62]
Ernest Gellner, once a professor of philosophy and logic at the London School of Economics, considered
Khaldun's definition of government[note 4] the best in the history of political theory.[63]

More moderate views on the scope of Ibn Khaldun's contributions have also emerged.

Arthur Laffer, for whom the Laffer curve is named, acknowledged that Ibn Khaldun's ideas, as well as others,
precede his own work on that curve.[64]

Economist Paul Krugman described Ibn Khaldun as "a 14th-century Islamic philosopher who basically invented
what we would now call the social sciences".[65]

19th century Scottish theologian and philosopher Robert Flint praised him strongly, "as a theorist of history he
had no equal in any age or country until Vico appeared, more than three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle,
and Augustine were not his peers, and all others were unworthy of being even mentioned along with him". Ibn
Khaldun's work on evolution of societies also influenced Egon Orowan, who termed the concept of
socionomy.[66] While Ibn Khaldun's record-keeping is usually passed over in favor of recognizing his
contributions to the science of history, Abderrahmane Lakhsassi wrote "No historian of the Maghreb since and
particularly of the Berbers can do without his historical contribution."[67]

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Public recognition

Public recognition of Ibn Khaldun has increased in recent years. In 2004, the Tunisian Community Center
launched the first Ibn Khaldun Award to recognize a Tunisian/American high achiever whose work reflects Ibn
Khaldun's ideas of kinship and solidarity. The Award was named after Ibn Khaldun for the convergence of his
ideas with the organization's objectives and programs. In 2006, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation
launched an annual essay contest[68] for students named in Ibn Khaldun's honor. The theme of the contest is
"how individuals, think tanks, universities and entrepreneurs can influence government policies to allow the
free market to flourish and improve the lives of its citizens based on Islamic teachings and traditions."[68] In
2006, Spain commemorated the 600th anniversary of the death of Ibn Khaldun by orchestrating an exhibit titled
"Encounter of Civilizations: Ibn Khaldun."[69]

In 2007, İbn Haldun Üniversitesi has opened in Istanbul, Turkey to commemorate his name. The university
promotes a policy of trilingualism. The languages in question are English, Modern Turkish, and Arabic and its
emphasis is on teaching social sciences.

In 1981 U.S. President Ronald Reagan cited Ibn Khaldun as an influence on his supply-side economic policies,
also known as Reaganomics. He paraphrased Ibn Khaldun, who said that "in the beginning of the dynasty, great
tax revenues were gained from small assessments," and that "at the end of the dynasty, small tax revenues were
gained from large assessments." Reagan said his goal is "trying to get down to the small assessments and the
great revenues."[70]

The Iraqi Navy named a frigate after Ibn Khaldun.

Bibliography
Kitāb al-ʻIbar wa-Dīwān al-Mubtadaʼ wa-l-Khabar fī Taʼrīkh al-ʻArab wa-l-Barbar wa-Man
ʻĀṣarahum min Dhawī ash-Shaʼn al-Akbār
Lubābu-l-Muhassal fee Uswoolu-d-Deen
Shifā'u-s-Sā'il
ʻAl-Laqaw li-s-Sulṭān
Ibn Khaldun. 1951 ‫ التعريف بإبن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا‬Al-Taʻrīf bi Ibn-Khaldūn wa Riħlatuhu
Għarbān wa Sharqān. Published by Muħammad ibn-Tāwīt at-Tanjī. Cairo (Autobiography in
Arabic).
Ibn Khaldūn. 1958 The Muqaddimah : An introduction to history. Translated from the Arabic by
Franz Rosenthal. 3 vols. New York: Princeton.
Ibn Khaldūn. 1967 The Muqaddimah : An introduction to history. Trans. Franz Rosenthal, ed. N.J.
Dawood. (Abridged).
Ibn Khaldun, 1332–1406. 1905 'A Selection from the Prolegomena of Ibn Khaldūn (https://archive.
org/details/selectionfrompro00ibnk/)'. Trans. Duncan Macdonald

See also
Society portal

Philosophy portal

Islam portal
History portal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun 10/18
10/28/23, 5:06 PM Ibn Khaldun - Wikipedia

Middle Ages portal

Biography portal

List of pre-modern Arab scientists and scholars


Asabiyyah
Chanakya
Egon Orowan
List of Muslim historians
Historiography of early Islam
Laffer curve
Muqaddimah
Science in medieval Islam
Social cycle theory
Averroes
Abulcasis
Ibn Arabi
Ibn Tufail
Sayyid Husayn Ahlati

Notes
1.
"...regarded by some Westerners as the true father of historiography and sociology".[71]
"Ibn Khaldun has been claimed the forerunner of a great number of European thinkers, mostly
sociologists, historians, and philosophers".(Boulakia 1971)
"The founding father of Eastern Sociology".[72]
"This grand scheme to find a new science of society makes him the forerunner of many of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries system-builders such as Vico, Comte and Marx." "As one
of the early founders of the social sciences...".[73]
2.
"He is considered by some as a father of modern economics, or at least a major forerunner.
The Western world recognizes Khaldun as the father of sociology but hesitates in recognizing
him as a great economist who laid its very foundations. He was the first to systematically
analyze the functioning of an economy, the importance of technology, specialization and
foreign trade in economic surplus and the role of government and its stabilization policies to
increase output and employment. Moreover, he dealt with the problem of optimum taxation,
minimum government services, incentives, institutional framework, law and order,
expectations, production, and the theory of value".Cosma, Sorinel (2009). "Ibn Khaldun's
Economic Thinking". Ovidius University Annals of Economics (Ovidius University Press)
XIV:52–57 (http://www.ovidius-stec.ro/html/anale/ENG/cuprins%20rezumate/2009%20vol2.pd
f)
3. For classical style of Arab historians see Ibrahim ibn ar-Raqīq (~d.1028) and al-Mālikī.
4. "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself"

References
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m/1981/10/02/us/reagan-cites-islamic-scholar.html). The New York Times.
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Sources
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(1332–1406) Ilm al-umran. Mellen studies in sociology. Lewiston/NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
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manticscholar.org/CorpusID:144078253).
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1406; a study in Islamic historiography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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Ana Maria C. Minecan, 2012 "El vínculo comunitario y el poder en Ibn Jaldún" in José-Miguel
Marinas (Ed.), Pensar lo político: Ensayos sobre comunidad y conflicto, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid,
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Mahmoud Rabi'. 1967 The political theory of Ibn Khaldun. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
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Klára Pogátsa. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. Original edition, 1999.
Weiss, Dieter (1995). "Ibn Khaldun on Economic Transformation". International Journal of Middle
East Studies. Cambridge University Press. 27 (1): 29–37. doi:10.1017/S0020743800061560 (http
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5). S2CID 162022220 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162022220).

Further reading
Malise Ruthven, "The Otherworldliness of Ibn Khaldun" (review of Robert Irwin, Ibn Khaldun: An
Intellectual Biography, Princeton University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0691174662, 243 pp.), The
New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 23–24, 26. "More than six
centuries after Ibn Khaldun's death the modern world has much to learn from studying him. After
the Muqaddima itself, Irwin's intellectual biography... is an excellent place to begin."

External links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun 16/18
10/28/23, 5:06 PM Ibn Khaldun - Wikipedia

English
Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Work, by Muhammad Hozien (https://web.archive.org/web/2013091301
0235/http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/klf.htm)
Ibn Khaldun (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qckbw) on In Our Time at the BBC
Rosenthal, Franz (2008) [1970–80]. "Ibn Khaldūn" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-283090
2289.html). Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com.
Complete Muqaddimah/Kitab al-Ibar in English (without Chapter V, 13) (http://www.muslimphiloso
phy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/)
The Tunisian American Center (US) (http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/) Archived (https://archive.
today/20130416001413/http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/) 16 April 2013 at archive.today
Ibn Khaldun on the Web (https://web.archive.org/web/20040624080750/http://www.isidore-of-sevill
e.com/ibnkhaldun/)
Muslim Scientists and Scholars – Ibn Khaldun (https://web.archive.org/web/20040430064720/htt
p://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/KHALDUN.html)
Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy of Management and Work (https://web.archive.org/web/2006101416241
4/http://www.dinarstandard.com/management/IbnKhaldun_Mgmt100206.htm)
Ibn Khaldun (al-Muqaddimah): Methodology & concepts of economic sociology (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20060831233452/http://home.online.no/~al-araki/index.html)
Ibn Khaldun. The Mediterranean in the 14th century: Rise and fall of Empires (https://web.archive.
org/web/20070928013846/http://www.ibnjaldun.com/index.php?L=7). Andalusian Legacy
exhibition in the Alcazar of Seville
The Ibn Khaldun Community Service Award© (http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/wordpress/?pag
e_id=834) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210225160323/http://www.tunisiancommunity.
org/wordpress/?page_id=834) 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Ibn Khaldun meets Al Saud (http://cliodynamics.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id
=151&Itemid=70)
The Ibn Khaldun Institute (http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/wordpress/?page_id=249) Archived
(https://archive.today/20140912195646/http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/wordpress/?page_id=2
49) 12 September 2014 at archive.today
The Tunisian American Day© (http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/wordpress/?page_id=246)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210225161744/http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/wordpr
ess/?page_id=246) 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine

Non-English
Multilingual tunisian academic web site on Ibn Khaldun (https://sites.google.com/site/ibnkhaldun2
1/)
(in French) Exposé simplifié sur la théologie scolastique (https://web.archive.org/web/2012052610
2936/http://www.at-tawhid.net/article-expose-simplifie-sur-la-theologie-scolastique-al-ilm-ul-kalam-
ibn-khaldun-45868741.html)
Chapters from the Muqaddimah and the History of Ibn Khaldun (https://web.archive.org/web/2004
0507183818/http://membres.lycos.fr/benikou/) (in Arabic)
Ismail Küpeli: Ibn Khaldun und das politische System Syriens – Eine Gegenüberstellung (http://w
ww.grin.com/e-book/70021/ibn-khaldun-und-das-politische-system-syriens-eine-gegenueberstellu
ng), München, 2007, ISBN 978-3-638-75458-3 (German e-book about the politics of Syria with
reference to the political theory of Ibn Khaldun)
Kuchinov A.M. Ibn Khaldun influence on social thought development (http://lomonosov-msu.ru/arc
hive/Lomonosov_2013/2084/25645_8036.pdf) // Lomonosov-2013. – Moscow, 2013. In Russian.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun 17/18
10/28/23, 5:06 PM Ibn Khaldun - Wikipedia

Master's thesis on Ibn Khaldun published by FFLCH-USP in 2017 (http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/


disponiveis/8/8159/tde-03052018-091006/en.php) Roschel, Renato – São Paulo, 2017. In
Portuguese.

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