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Ibn Khaldun

1332–1406

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

For Ibn Khaldun, societies rise and fall in cycles: group solidarity builds a dynasty, and comfort and luxury then wear it down within a few generations.

Placement

Philosophy in the Islamic World · West Asia & North Africa · Society & History, Politics & Law

With the Muqaddimah he founded a theory of society and history – often seen as a forerunner of sociology.

Key ideas

  • Asabiyya (group solidarity)
  • Cycles of dynasties

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Influence

Influenced by 4

  • Aristotle

    influenced by

    Ibn Khaldun opened his science of civilisation with the philosophers’ dictum that the human being is political by nature, explained by the need for cooperation (Muqaddima, 1377). Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima (1377), tr. F. Rosenthal (1958); Aristotle, Politics

    Evidence: AI draft

    Aristotle › 384–322 BCE

  • al-Ghazali

    influenced by

    Ibn Khaldun named al-Ghazali the first to write in the way of the later theologians and shared his doubts about the philosophers’ metaphysical proofs (Muqaddima, 1377). Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima (1377), sections on kalam and on philosophy, tr. F. Rosenthal (1958)

    Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

    al-Ghazali › 1058–1111

  • Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

    influenced by ✓

    According to his contemporary and friend Ibn al-Khatib, the young Ibn Khaldun wrote several summaries of works by Averroes, besides books on logic and arithmetic. Ibn al-Khatib, al-Ihata fi akhbar Gharnata (notice on Ibn Khaldun); F. Rosenthal, introduction to Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (1958)

    Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata

    Ibn Rushd (Averroes) › 1126–1198

  • Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

    influenced by ✓

    Ibn Khaldun’s first work, Lubab al-Muhassal (1351), was an abridgement of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s theological summa, the Muhassal, drawing on al-Tusi’s critical notes. Ibn Khaldun, Lubab al-Muhassal fi usul al-din (1351), ed. L. Rubio (1952); F. Rosenthal, introduction to Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (1958)

    Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata

    Fakhr al-Din al-Razi › c. 1150–1210

Influenced 4

  • Muhammad Abduh

    influenced

    Appointed to teach history at Dar al-Ulum in Cairo in 1879, Abduh is reported to have based his lectures on Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddima. C. C. Adams, Islam and Modernism in Egypt (1933); A. Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (1962)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Muhammad Abduh › 1849–1905

  • José Ortega y Gasset

    influenced

    In “Ibn Khaldun reveals the secret” (El Sol 1927–28; El Espectador VIII, 1934) Ortega used Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of history and his concept of asabiyya to explain the history of North Africa and Spain’s situation in Morocco. J. Ortega y Gasset, “Abenjaldún nos revela el secreto (Pensamientos sobre África Menor)”, El Sol 1927–28; El Espectador VIII (1934)

    Evidence: AI draft

    José Ortega y Gasset › 1883–1955

  • Malek Bennabi

    influenced

    Bennabi took up Ibn Khaldun’s question of how civilisations rise and decline and read Muslim history as such a cycle (Vocation de l’Islam, 1954). M. Bennabi, Les Conditions de la renaissance (1949); Vocation de l’Islam (1954)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Malek Bennabi › 1905–1973

  • Mohammed Abed al-Jabri

    influenced

    Al-Jabri’s doctoral thesis, published as Ibn Khaldun’s Thought: Asabiyya and the State (1971), read the Muqaddima as a theory of tribal solidarity and state power in Islamic history. M. A. al-Jabri, Fikr Ibn Khaldun: al-asabiyya wa-l-dawla (1971)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Mohammed Abed al-Jabri › 1935–2010

Criticism

Criticized by 1

  • Taha Hussein

    criticised by

    In his Paris thesis (1917, printed 1918) Taha Hussein examined Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddima as a social philosophy, analytically and critically, against the sociology of his day. T. Hussein, Étude analytique et critique de la philosophie sociale d’Ibn Khaldoun (1918)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Taha Hussein › 1889–1973

Criticizes 1

  • Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

    criticised

    Ibn Khaldun argued that the metaphysics of the philosophers, among whom he named al-Farabi and Avicenna, cannot reach certainty about what lies beyond experience (Muqaddima VI, 1377). Ibn Khaldūn, al-Muqaddima (1377), ch. VI, ‘A refutation of philosophy’, tr. F. Rosenthal, 1958, vol. III

    Evidence: AI draft

    Ibn Sina (Avicenna) › 980–1037

Works

  • 1377Muqaddimah

    An introduction to history: group solidarity, dynasties, economics.

Position

In the Muqaddimah, the introduction to his world history, Ibn Khaldun set out a new science of human society and civilisation. Historians, he argued, must test reports against what is possible given the nature of social life, rather than simply repeating sources. The driving force of history is asabiyya, the group solidarity of nomadic and rural kin groups, which allows them to found dynasties. Once settled in cities, however, rulers grow used to luxury, solidarity fades, and after about three generations the dynasty falls to a new, tougher group. His analysis of economy, power and culture has made him widely regarded as a forerunner of sociology and economic history.

Life & context

Born in Tunis in 1332 into a family of Andalusian origin, Ibn Khaldun served as secretary, diplomat and minister at North African and Andalusian courts in a time of plague and constant upheaval. In 1375 he withdrew to a remote fortress to write his great history. He later lived in Cairo as a judge, met the conqueror Timur at Damascus in 1401, and died in Cairo in 1406.

Further main works

  • Book of Lessons (Kitab al-Ibar) (c. 1382)
  • Autobiography (al-Tarif) (c. 1405)

Appears in

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

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