Ibn Khaldun
- Lived
- 1332 - 1406 CE
- Read next
- Meaning of the name Ibn Khaldun
Who was Ibn Khaldun? The Andalusian-Tunisian historian who wrote the Muqaddima, the first work of scientific historiography and sociology in world literature. Six centuries before Marx and Weber, he explained why civilizations rise and fall.
The Andalusian-Tunisian historian who wrote the Muqaddima, the first work of scientific historiography and sociology in world literature. Six centuries before Marx and Weber, he explained why civilizations rise and fall.
Life
Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis in 1332 CE, into a family that had emigrated from Seville after the Reconquista. He studied hadith, fiqh, and the sciences of the ancients. He served the Hafsid, Marinid, Nasrid, and Mamluk dynasties in various offices as vizier, ambassador, and judge.
He wrote the Muqaddima (Introduction) to his universal history, Kitab al-Ibar, in a fortress at Qal'at Ibn Salama in Algeria between 1375 and 1379 CE, during a period of retreat from politics. The Muqaddima runs to more than 1,500 pages in the standard Arabic edition.
The Muqaddima laid out the core concepts of the new science: asabiyya (group solidarity), the cyclical rise and fall of dynasties (roughly four generations from Bedouin vigor to civilized decadence), the difference between rural and urban economies, the relationship between climate and civilization, the sociology of religion, the psychology of political power.
He served as Maliki chief judge of Cairo under the Mamluks. Tamerlane sacked Damascus in 1400 CE. Ibn Khaldun met Tamerlane at his tent outside the walls of Damascus and had a long conversation with him, which he recorded in his autobiography.
He died in Cairo in 1406 CE. His tomb's exact location is unknown; likely the Sufi cemetery outside Bab al-Nasr. His Muqaddima was rediscovered in Europe in the nineteenth century and became a founding text of modern sociology.
Stories
Each story is drawn from the classical Islamic sources.