Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406AD/732-808AH)

One of the

Founding Fathers of Sociology

Ibn Khladun-A Short Biography

His ancestors settled in Sevilla-Andalucia
Expelled after reqonquista/inquisition in 7th/13th century
Benu Khlandun played important role in Sevillas political life.

Full name: Wali al-Din Abd al-Rahman Ibn Muhammad Ibn

Khaldun al-Tunisi al-Hadrami usually known as Ibn Khaldun
Born in Tunis: 1st of May 1332AD/1st of Ramadan 732AH
Educated in:
Islamic Studies: which covers the sciences of Quran, Hadith, Fiqh
(jurisprudence)-Maliki school/Madhab
Arabic Language: grammar, syntax and the art of eloquent written
and spoken language
Logic, philosophy, natural sciences and mathematics

His Education was disrupted by:

Black death (plague) in 1339 which devastated region of North
Africa (known as Maghreb)
1350 most of the scholars and scientists left for Morocco with Sultan
Ibn Al-Hassan (Marinid Kingdom)

Ibn Khladun-A Short Biography

Ibn Khalduns public life:
Appointed by Tunisian King for position of General Secretary at age of 20
1352 after the Sultan Zayd (Constantinople/Istanbul) invasion migrated to
Fez.
Ambassador of Sultan of Granada to Pedro the Cruel, the Christian king of
Castile in 1363
Imprisoned several times
Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
1377 moved to Egypt
Professor at University of Al-Azhar
Judge in Cairo for Maliki school/ madhab

Ibn Khalduns Bibliography

Kitab al-Ibar wa Diwan al-Mubtada` wa al-Khabar fi Ayyam
al-Arab wa al-Ajam wa al-Barbar wa man Asharahum min
Dhawi al-Sultan al-Akbar [Book of Examples and the
Collection of Origins of the History of the Arabs and Berbers];
Muqaddimah [Prolegomena];
Sifaul-Sail (Work on Sufism)
Allaqa lil-Sultan (On Logic)
Lubab al-Muhass al fi usul al-din [The Resum of the
Compendium in the Fundamentals of Religion], being his
summary of Fakhr al-Din al-Razis Compendium of the Sciences
of the Ancients and Moderns; and
Ibn Khalduns autobiography, Al-Tarif bi Ibn Khaldun wa
Rihlatuhu Gharban wa Sharqan [Biography of Ibn Khaldun and
His Travels to the East and West] (Ibn Khaldun, 1979).

Kitab al-Ibar
Written in period from 1375 to 1378 in Algeria
Divided into three main parts: Muqaddimah (Prolegomena), history of
mankind up to the Ibn Khalduns time, and history of Berber peoples
and Maghreb.
Became famous due to the first part of the book called Muqaddimah or
Prolegomena written in 1377
Muqaddimah discusses:
Human society, its kinds and geographical distribution.
Nomadic societies, tribes and savage peoples.
States, the spiritual and temporal powers, and political ranks.
Sedentary societies, cities and provinces.
Crafts, means of livelihood and economic activity.
Learning and the ways in which it is acquired.

Significance of Muqaddimah
First and foremost a bold and perceptive work on the
dynamics of Arab society at large
Sociological work inspired directly by authors own
observations and experience
Contains many sociological Grand Theories on Arab society
such as:
Rise and fall issues
What is the role of Assabiyyah and religion in its integration and
disintegration?
Why the vanquished always tend to imitate conquerors?
How does Arab state follow a systematically short-lived cyclical
pattern of growth and development?

Regarded as basis for school of sociological thought on its

own
Uniqueness of the book as stated by author himself
Foundation for formation of new science (Ilm Al-Umran)

Ibn Khalduns Ilmu-l-Umran

Difficult to define
Charles Issawi: Philosophy of History
Taha Hussain: Social Philosophy
Muhammad Al-Jabir: Modern Social Studies
Contrary to the usual narrative nature of human events by the
discipline of history, Ibn Khalduns New Science (Ilm Al-Umran)
attempts to explain the how and the way of human historical events.
His aim was, thus, to account for the acting out, particularly of the
Arab-Islamic history up to the 14th century. It is in this sense that
Ilm al-Umran is quite different from modern sociology.

Ilm Al-Umran perceived as profound vertical than modern

sociology. (rise and fall of tribes, states and civilizations)

Ibn Khaldun: its own (Ilm Al-Umran) peculiar object - that is,
human civilization and social organization that is, explaining the
conditions that attach themselves to the essence of civilization, one after
the other (Khaldun, 1958, p. 77).

Ibn Khalduns Ilmu-l-Umran

Four fundamental principles of Ilm Al-Umran:
the subject matter of the new science is human association
its problems are the essential modes of culture
its method is demonstration
its end is making of truth from falsehood in historical reports

Two main divisions of Ilm Al-Umran:

ilm al-umran al-bashari (the science of human social organization)
ilm al-ijtima al-insani (the science of human society)

Ibn Khalduns Social Division Theory

Societies are classified into:
Umran al-badawi (rural society)
Umran al-hadari (settled/urban society)

Umran al-Badawi:
Inhabitants of desert or nomadic people
Tied to the desert due to the agricultural life style
First type of social organization
Usually formed by blood ties/kinship
Characterized by strong leadership

Umran al-Hadari:
Secondary phase of social organization
Inhabitants of the cities which form a state
Society is centered upon commerce and crafts, in addition to agriculture
Presence of higher level of comfort and luxury

Social Conflict Theory:

Asabiyyah is a center of social organization
constructive of destructive function.

The Concept of Asabiyyah

Etymological meaning:
Pre-Islamic usage: by Arabs in desert -to signify unity of thought
and action, and social and economic cohesiveness among members
of same tribe. Asabiyyah was an instrument of defense as well as of
aggression.
Traditionally it meant: blind support of ones group without regard
for the justice of its cause.
Ibn Khalduns: Asabiyyah is associative sentiment: unity of purpose
and community of social, political and economic interests.
Asabiyyah is we-feeling among people.
Asabiyyah is that which makes a group a power-group
Asabiyyah represents: social cohesion, unity, unifying factor,
group feeling, social solidarity, solidarity, the motor of social
change
Asabiyyah forms due to: common language, culture, code of
behavior, common enemy, common sufferings, common economic
interests, common goals, common beliefs.

The Concept of Asabiyyah

Factors which create Asabiyyah:
Power
Leadership
Religion

Factors that weaken Asabiyyah:

Wealth and corruption
Power
Urbanization

Four types of Asabiyyah:

Solidarity based on blood ties/kinship
Client-allies relationship
Asylum seeker asabiyyah
Religious asabiyyah

Ibn Khalduns Major Theories

Theory of production:
Production is human activity organized socially (locally) and internationally
Human nature of production
Man is economic animal
Man ends in production

A)

"Man is distinguished from the other living beings by . . . [his] efforts to make a
living and his concern with the various ways of obtaining and acquiring the
means [of life]"
"Profit [production] is the main value realized from human labour

B) Social Organization of the Production

Man must produce in order to survive

Cannot produce enough food by himself
Collaboration is required in order to survive and to multiple the production
Each food requires number of operations and each operation requires number of
tools and crafts
Higher specialization of workers
Only specialization allows higher production

C) International organization of production

International division IS NOT based on natural resources but on the skills of

laborers.

Ibn Khalduns Major Theories

Theories of Value, Money and Prices
Value of any product is equal to the quantity of labor incorporated in it.
Money: gold and silver are measures of the value, they are naturally accepted as
money; not subject to market fluctuations.
Price(s): are subject to market fluctuations; determined by the law of supply and
demand.

Theory of Distribution
Salary is the major constituent of the price of goods, the price of labor is
determined by supply and demand
Profit: Difference acquired between buying and selling price through market
"Commerce means the attempt to make a profit by increasing capital, through buying goods at
a low price and selling them at a high price

Taxes: vary according to the wealth of ruler and the subjects

Optimum distribution value

Theory of Cycles
Production depends on supply and demand
Production is determined by population
Population is determined by production (workers, salaries, luxury, urbanization)
Higher demands than supply (peasants moved to urban areas)
Geographical possibilities of expansion of cities

Ibn Khalduns Four Generations Law

Dinasty/state/empire/civilization can rule for 3 generations
First generation: founders, keep the state vitality,
virtue and courage
Second generation: transformation from the all ruling
system into one man rules under the influence of
luxury life
Third generation: completely lost vitality on nomadic
way of life, ruling dynasty in senility phase
Fourth generation: lost all qualities of prestige and
advancement, and it is matter of day when it will
collapse.

Ibn Khalduns Legacy

Brought to the attention of the Western world in 1697 when biography of him
appeared in Barthelme d'Herbelot de Molainville's Bibliothque Orientale
British historian Arnold J. Toynbee called the Muqaddimah a philosophy of
history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet
been created by any mind in any time or place.
The British philosopher Robert Flint wrote the following on Ibn Khaldun:
"...as a theorist of history he had no equal in any age or country until
Vico appeared, more than three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle,
and Augustine were not his peers, and all others were unworthy of being even
mentioned along with him".
The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn
Khaldun's definition of government, "an institution which prevents injustice
other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history of political theory.