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Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)

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Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon

Abstract

According to Ibn Khaldun, the field of history merely deals with the surface phenomena of history, if all it does is to provide information about political events and facts about dynasties. This should be distinguished from the inner meaning of history which is arrived at through ‘speculation and an attempt to get at the truth, subtle explanation of the causes and origins of existing things and deep knowledge of the how and why of events’. Furthermore, existing historical reports were inflicted with stories of the absurd. These could only be corrected by applying knowledge of the nature of society to such reports. In other words, faulty historical reports could only be rectified by a science that distinguishes fact from error or truth from falsehood on the grounds of their possibility or absurdity. This is the science of human society.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 64.

  2. 2.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 6.

  3. 3.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 77.

  4. 4.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 47–8.

  5. 5.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 78.

  6. 6.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 84–5.

  7. 7.

    Aziz El-Azmeh, ‘The Muqaddima and Kitab Al‘Ibar: Perspectives from a Common Formula’ The Maghreb Review 4, 1 (1979), 17.

  8. 8.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 11.

  9. 9.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 85.

  10. 10.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 282–313.

  11. 11.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 285.

  12. 12.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 296–99.

  13. 13.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Al-Muqaddimah, III, 91 [III, 137].

  14. 14.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Al-Muqaddimah, III, 92 [III, 138–139].

  15. 15.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Al-Muqaddimah, III, 94 [III, 142].

  16. 16.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Al-Muqaddimah, I, 53 [I, 72–73].

  17. 17.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Al-Muqaddimah, III, 93–94 [III, 140–141].

  18. 18.

    Yves Lacoste, Ibn Khaldun: The Birth of History and the Past of the Third World (London: Verso, 1984), 20; Heinrich Simon, Ibn Khaldun’s Science of Human Culture (Lahore, SH. Muhammad Ashraf, 1978), 15.

  19. 19.

    Lacoste, Ibn Khaldun, 35.

  20. 20.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 89, 94, 167, 174, 177, 184.

  21. 21.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 89.

  22. 22.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 249–50.

  23. 23.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 253.

  24. 24.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 258.

  25. 25.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 262–3.

  26. 26.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 264.

  27. 27.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 322.

  28. 28.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 273–4.

  29. 29.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 277–8.

  30. 30.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 278–80.

  31. 31.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 284.

  32. 32.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 285.

  33. 33.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 296–7.

  34. 34.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 298–9.

  35. 35.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 372–3.

  36. 36.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 314–15.

  37. 37.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 344–5.

  38. 38.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 353.

  39. 39.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 298–9.

  40. 40.

    See also Syed Farid Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (London: Routledge, 2014), chap. 5.

  41. 41.

    Ortega y Gasset, José (1976–8) ‘Abenjaldún nos revela el secreto’, Revista del Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Islámicos en Madrid 19 (1976–8), 111–2.

  42. 42.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 305–6.

  43. 43.

    Ibn Khaldûn, Ibn Khaldun: The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 323.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., pp. 347–351.

  45. 45.

    David Hume, The Natural History of Religion (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1976), cited in Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 9.

  46. 46.

    Hume, The Natural History of Religion, cited in Gellner, Muslim Society, 10.

  47. 47.

    Gellner, Muslim Society, 16.

  48. 48.

    Gellner, Muslim Society, 41–2.

  49. 49.

    Robert Montagne, The Berbers: Their Social and Political Organisation, (London: Frank Cass, 1931), 14–15.

  50. 50.

    J. V. Spickard, ‘Tribes and Cities: Towards and Islamic Sociology of Religion’, Social Compass 48, 1 (2001), 109.

  51. 51.

    J. V. Spickard, ‘Tribes and Cities: Towards and Islamic Sociology of Religion’, Social Compass 48, 1 (2001), 108.

  52. 52.

    Simon, Ibn Khaldun’s Science of Human Culture, 36–7.

  53. 53.

    Barthélemy D’Herbelot de Molainville, ‘Khaledoun’, in Bibliotheque Orientale (Paris, 1697), II, 418.

  54. 54.

    The French translation was undertaken by Silvestre de Sacy and appeared in 1810. See Baron Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy, ed., trans., ‘Extraits de Prolégoménes d’Ebn Khaldoun’, Relation de l’Egypt, par Abd-Allatif, médecin arabe de Bagdad (Paris, 1810), 509–24 (translation), 558–64 (Arabic text). Around the same time, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall published German translations of extracts of the Muqaddimah. See Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, ‘Extraits d’Ibn Khaledoun’, Fundgruben des Orients 6 (1818), 301–307; 362–364; Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, ‘Notice sur l’Introduction a la connaissance de 1‘histoire, Celebre Ouvrage arabe d’Ibn Khaldoun,’ Journal asiatique (Paris), 1 ser., 1 (1822), 267–78; Iv, 158–61.

  55. 55.

    Ibn Khaldoun, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l’Afrique septentrionale, 3 Vols. Baron de Slane, trans. (Paris: Libraire Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1982).

  56. 56.

    Alfred von Kremer, ‘Ibn Chaldun und seine Kulturgeschichte der Islamischen Reiche’, Sitzunsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Philosoph.-histor. Klasse) (Vienna) 93, 1979; Robert Flint, History of the Philosophy of History in France, Belgium, and Switzerland (Edinburgh, 1893), 158ff; Ludwig Gumplowicz, Soziologische Essays: Soziologie und Politik (Innsbruck: Universitats-Verlag Wagner, 1899/1928); Ludwig Gumplowicz, The Outlines of Sociology, Frederick W. Moore, trans. (Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1899) [translation of Gumplowicz, 1899/1928], 90–114; René Maunier, ‘Les idées économiques d’un philosophe arabe au XIVe siècle’, Revue d’histoire économique et sociale 6 (1913); Franz Oppenheimer, System der Soziologie, Jena: Fischer, 1922–1935), vol. 2, 173ff; vol. 4, 251ff; Ortega y Gasset, ‘Abenjaldún nos revela el secreto’. In 1938, Becker and Barnes in their Social Thought from Lore to Science, devote many pages to Ibn Khaldun and suggest that he was the first to apply modern-like ideas in historical sociology. See Howard Becker Harry Elmer Barnes, Social Thought from Lore to Science, 3 vols, 3rd ed. (New York: Dover Publications, 1961), vol I: 266–279.

  57. 57.

    ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ‘Izzat wrote his thesis in 1932 entitled Ibn Khaldun et sa science sociale under the guidance of Fauconnier and René Maunier in France. See Alain Roussillon, ‘La représentation de l’identité par les discours fondateurs de la sociologie Turque et Egyptienne: Ziya Gökalp et `Ali Abd Al-Wahid Wafi’ in Modernisation et mobilisation sociale II, Egypte-Turquie (Cairo: Dossier du CEDEJ, 1992), 56, n. 48). He also published a comparative study between Ibn Khaldun and Emile Durkheim. See ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ‘Izzat, Etude comparée d’Ibn Khaldun et Durkheim (Cairo: Al-Maktabat Al-Anglo Al-Misriyyah, 1952). ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Wahid Wafi embarked on a comparative study of Ibn Khaldun and Auguste Comte. See his Al-falsafah al-ijtima‘iyyah li Ibn Khaldun wa Aujust Kumt (Cairo, 1951). He also wrote a renowned work on Ibn Khaldun as the founder of sociology which appeared as ‘Ibn Khaldūn, awwal mu’assis li ‘ilm al-ijtimā’, in A‘mal Mahrajan Ibn Khaldun (Proceedings of the Ibn Khaldun Symposium), Cairo: National Centre for Social and Criminological Research, 1962), 63–78. During the same period, Syed Hussein Alatas from Malaysia had referred to Ibn Khaldun as having founded the principles of modern sociology. See his ‘Objectivity and the Writing of History’, Progressive Islam 1, 2 (1954), 2.

  58. 58.

    For some exceptions, see Abdesselam Cheddadi, ‘Le Systeme du Pouvoir en Islam d`apres Ibn Khaldun,’ Annales, Eco., So., Civ. 3–4 (1980), 534–550; Olivier Carré, ‘A propos de vues Neo-Khalduniennes sur quelques systemes politiques Arabes actueles’, Arabica 35, 3 (1988), 368–87; Yves Lacoste, Ibn Khaldun: The Birth of History and the Past of the Third World. London: Verso, 1984); Syed Farid Alatas, ‘Ibn Khaldun and the Ottoman Modes of Production,’ Arab Historical Review for Ottoman Studies 1–2 (1990), 45–63; Syed Farid Alatas, ‘A Khaldunian Perspective on the Dynamics of Asiatic Societies’, Comparative Civilizations Review 29 (1993), 29–51; Syed Farid Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (London: Routledge, 2014).

  59. 59.

    Some features of Eurocentrism, such as the subject/object dichotomy, the placing of Europeans in the foreground, the presentation of Europeans as originators and the dominance of European concepts and categories are discussed in Syed Farid Alatas, Alternative Discourses in Asian Social Sciences: Responses to Eurocentrism (New Delhi: Sage, 2006), 177–8. Eurocentrism functions to render non-Western thinkers like Ibn Khaldun irrelevant or peripheral.

  60. 60.

    For an attempt to do this, see Alatas, ‘Ibn Khaldun and the Ottoman Modes of Production’; Alatas, ‘A Khaldunian Perspective on the Dynamics of Asiatic Societies’; and Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun, chaps. 6 and 7.

  61. 61.

    Gerard Michaud, ‘Caste, Confession et Societe en Syrie: Ibn Khaldoun au Chevet du ‘Progressisme Arabe’, Peuples Mediterraneens 16 (1981), 168.

  62. 62.

    Michaud, ‘Caste, Confession et Societe en Syrie’, 120.

  63. 63.

    Olivier Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn, juriste musulman: Actualité de sa typologie des systèmes politique’, L’Annee sociologique 30 (1979–80), 122.

  64. 64.

    Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn’, 122.

  65. 65.

    Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn’, 123.

  66. 66.

    Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn’, 124.

  67. 67.

    Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn’, 124.

  68. 68.

    Carré, ‘Ethique et politique chez Ibn Khaldûn’, 121.

Reference

  • Lacoste, Yves. Ibn Khaldun: The Birth of History and the Past of the Third World. London: Verso, 1984.

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  1. Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Syed Farid Alatas

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Alatas, S.F. (2017). Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406). In: Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41134-1_2

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