Ibn Khaldun: Law and Justice in the Science of Civilisation

Abstract

Islam and religious law are inextricably intertwined. The concept of justice within the Islamic tradition is also indivisibly connected to revelation and the religious law. The philosophers within the Islamic tradition who explored justice have started from these premises. Therefore, the major classical divisions of philosophy do not easily fit the way these philosophers approached the subject of law and justice. Nevertheless, it is possible to have a closer look at these concepts from a philosophical perspective. The aim of this chapter is to do so through a study of the position(s) of Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406). – Ibn Khaldun should be counted amongst the important thinkers in historiography and the social sciences. Within his grand theory of the rise and fall of civilisations in his major work, al-Muqaddima, there are also a political theory and theories of law and justice. His ideas deserve scrutiny because his work is not yet presented in the standard philosophy and sociology curricula of Western universities. Yet, Ibn Khaldun’s ideas are important in the history of philosophy and ideas. – While Ibn Khaldun was an original thinker when preoccupied with the function of law and justice when he described their importance to the development of society, his notions of the content of justice and law was comprehensively Islamic. He was, after all, trained in fiqh and practiced as Chief Qadi in Cairo towards the end of his life. The social function of law and justice is to ensure a stable social order, which is necessary for sedentary civilisations to grow. The content of the religious, i.e., Islamic, law is there to ensure not only a stable social order, but also to ensure the salvation of the believers and guarantee them a blissful afterlife. – These two aspects of law and justice were interrelated in Ibn Khaldun’s thinking. By pointing out the function of law in social and historical processes, Ibn Khaldun also advocated an instrumental approach to be adopted by rulers who need to ensure stability. However, his normative position is also clear in his insistence on the religious law, i.e., shari‘a, as the only law—when implemented without corruption and favouritism—that will ensure the interests of ruler and subjects alike. – Within Ibn Khaldun’s new science of civilisation, his theories on law and justice make up a consistent whole, combing scientific analysis and values or a descriptive method with a normative position, both approaches rooted in his Islamic beliefs.