IBN KHALDŪN
AN ARAB MEDIEVAL NORTH AFRICAN THINKER
Ibn Khaldūn, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥarḍramī al-Ishbīlī (1332-1406), was born in Tūnis on 1 Ramaḍān, 732 H (27 May, 1332 CE). His ancestors migrated from Ḥaḍramawt in southern Arabia to al-Andalus (Andalusia, southern Spain) in the early years of the 8th century during the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The family settled, eventually, in the city of Ishbīliyah (Seville) where they assumed political leadership positions. However, as the power of the Muslims started to crumble, the family had to leave to northwestern Africa, where they had strong connections with the ruling Ḥafṣids, shortly before the fall of the city to the Christians in 1284.
Having been a descendent of a family of scholars and statesmen, Ibn Khaldūn was educated by his father and other North African scholars in the traditional Arabic/Islamic sciences. After finishing his education he took several government positions in Tūnis and in Fez. However, the vicissitudes of politics led to his imprisonment for almost two years (1357-1358). Upon his release from prison he assumed other legal position until 1362 when he decided to leave North Africa and travel to Granada. In Granada he was highly honored by the city’s ruler Muḥammad V who sent him in 1364 on a diplomatic mission to Pedro the Cruel in Seville. Hence, Ibn Khaldūn had the opportunity to visit the city of his ancestors. After three years, he returned to North Africa in 1365, where he was given several high administrative positions until 1375.
Fed up with the intrigues of politics and the instability of governments, Ibn Khaldūn returned to Granada to dedicate himself to his scholarly pursuits but was obliged to return back the same year to Fez by pressures from its Sultan, Abū al-‘Abbās al-Marīnī. He managed, however, to flee to the Awlād ‘Ārif Arab tribe who gave him and his family refuge in Qal‘at Ibn Salāmah, a castle and a village in the province of Wahrān (Oran, Algeria). It was in the tranquility and safety of that castle that he started to write his famous History of the world “Kitāb al-‘Ibar.” The celebrated Muqaddimah, or, “Introduction” to that book was finished in November, 1377. In 1378, Ibn Khaldūn left Qal‘at Ibn Salāmah and settled in Tūnis where he held a teaching position at the famous Zaytūnah Mosque and continued writing his History of the world.
In 1382, Ibn Khaldūn left Tūnis by sea to Alexandria, Egypt, from whence he intended to go to Mecca for the Ḥajj (Pilgrimage), but he postponed the pilgrimage for a more suitable time and traveled to Cairo where he started teaching at the famous al-Azhar Mosque. In 1384 he was appointed by Barqūq, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1340-1399), to the position of Grand Qadi of the Mālikīyah, a position from which he resigned or was deposed six times (1384 until his death at the age of 74, on March 17, 1406). In October, 1400 he was asked to accompany Faraj, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1399-1405) in his march to confront the armies of the Mongol leader, Tamerlane, who was threatening to invade Syria. In 1401 Ibn Khaldūn, at the age of 69, met with Tamerlane in Damascus five times and was asked by him to write him a book about the geography and description of the Maghreb which he did before he returned to Cairo.
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The fame of Ibn Khaldūn in modern scholarship is due to his writing of the Muqaddimah, or “Introduction” to his History of the world, “Kitāb al-‘Ibar.” In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldūn laid the foundations of a new science, ‘Ilm al-‘Umrān, or, the science of human social organization. He, thus, preceded in his theories those of modern sociologists, philosophers, economists and historians like: Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Comte, Durkheim and even Marx.
The Muqaddimah has been translated into some twenty languages and hundreds of books and articles have been written, and still are, about Ibn Khaldūn and his ingenious work. Frantz Rosenthal states in the introduction to his English translation of the Muqaddimah: “ As it is, we can hardly do better than to state simply that here was a man with a great mind, who combined action with thought, the heir of a great civilization that had run its course, and the inhabitant of a country with a living historical tradition—albeit reduced to remnants of its former greatness— who realized his own gifts and the opportunities of his historical position in a work that ranks as one of mankind’s important triumphs”—P. lxxxvii.
النتائج (
العربية) 1:
[نسخ]نسخ!
ابن KHALDŪNمفكر شمال أفريقيا العربية في العصور الوسطىأخذت ابن، ' عبد بن Raḥmān بن محمد بن-Ḥarḍramī al-Ishbīlī (1332-1406)، ولد في Tūnis في 1 Ramaḍān، ح 732 (27 مايو، 1332 م). هاجر أسلافه من Ḥaḍramawt في جنوب المملكة العربية إلى الأندلس (الأندلس، جنوب إسبانيا) في السنوات الأولى من القرن الثامن عشر أثناء الفتح الإسلامي لشبه جزيرة أيبيريا. وفي النهاية، استقرت الأسرة في مدينة Ishbīliyah (إشبيلية) حيث تولوا مناصب القيادة السياسية. ومع ذلك، كقوة المسلمين بدأت تنهار، الأسرة اضطر إلى مغادرة إلى شمال غرب أفريقيا، حيث سنحت لهم صلات قوية مع Ḥafṣids الحاكم، قبل وقت قصير من سقوط المدينة للمسيحيين في 1284. Having been a descendent of a family of scholars and statesmen, Ibn Khaldūn was educated by his father and other North African scholars in the traditional Arabic/Islamic sciences. After finishing his education he took several government positions in Tūnis and in Fez. However, the vicissitudes of politics led to his imprisonment for almost two years (1357-1358). Upon his release from prison he assumed other legal position until 1362 when he decided to leave North Africa and travel to Granada. In Granada he was highly honored by the city’s ruler Muḥammad V who sent him in 1364 on a diplomatic mission to Pedro the Cruel in Seville. Hence, Ibn Khaldūn had the opportunity to visit the city of his ancestors. After three years, he returned to North Africa in 1365, where he was given several high administrative positions until 1375. Fed up with the intrigues of politics and the instability of governments, Ibn Khaldūn returned to Granada to dedicate himself to his scholarly pursuits but was obliged to return back the same year to Fez by pressures from its Sultan, Abū al-‘Abbās al-Marīnī. He managed, however, to flee to the Awlād ‘Ārif Arab tribe who gave him and his family refuge in Qal‘at Ibn Salāmah, a castle and a village in the province of Wahrān (Oran, Algeria). It was in the tranquility and safety of that castle that he started to write his famous History of the world “Kitāb al-‘Ibar.” The celebrated Muqaddimah, or, “Introduction” to that book was finished in November, 1377. In 1378, Ibn Khaldūn left Qal‘at Ibn Salāmah and settled in Tūnis where he held a teaching position at the famous Zaytūnah Mosque and continued writing his History of the world. In 1382, Ibn Khaldūn left Tūnis by sea to Alexandria, Egypt, from whence he intended to go to Mecca for the Ḥajj (Pilgrimage), but he postponed the pilgrimage for a more suitable time and traveled to Cairo where he started teaching at the famous al-Azhar Mosque. In 1384 he was appointed by Barqūq, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1340-1399), to the position of Grand Qadi of the Mālikīyah, a position from which he resigned or was deposed six times (1384 until his death at the age of 74, on March 17, 1406). In October, 1400 he was asked to accompany Faraj, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1399-1405) in his march to confront the armies of the Mongol leader, Tamerlane, who was threatening to invade Syria. In 1401 Ibn Khaldūn, at the age of 69, met with Tamerlane in Damascus five times and was asked by him to write him a book about the geography and description of the Maghreb which he did before he returned to Cairo. Click to see larger image.Click to see larger image.Click to see larger image.Click to see larger image.The fame of Ibn Khaldūn in modern scholarship is due to his writing of the Muqaddimah, or “Introduction” to his History of the world, “Kitāb al-‘Ibar.” In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldūn laid the foundations of a new science, ‘Ilm al-‘Umrān, or, the science of human social organization. He, thus, preceded in his theories those of modern sociologists, philosophers, economists and historians like: Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Comte, Durkheim and even Marx. The Muqaddimah has been translated into some twenty languages and hundreds of books and articles have been written, and still are, about Ibn Khaldūn and his ingenious work. Frantz Rosenthal states in the introduction to his English translation of the Muqaddimah: “ As it is, we can hardly do better than to state simply that here was a man with a great mind, who combined action with thought, the heir of a great civilization that had run its course, and the inhabitant of a country with a living historical tradition—albeit reduced to remnants of its former greatness— who realized his own gifts and the opportunities of his historical position in a work that ranks as one of mankind’s important triumphs”—P. lxxxvii.
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