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| Author | Ibn Khaldun |
|---|---|
| Original title | مقدّمة ابن خلدون |
| Language | Arabic |
| Published | 1377 |
Original text | مقدّمة ابن خلدون at ArabicWikisource |
TheMuqaddimah (Arabic:مقدّمة "Introduction"), also known as theMuqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun (Arabic:مقدّمة ابن خلدون) orIbn Khaldun'sProlegomena (Ancient Greek:Προλεγόμενα), is a book written by the historianIbn Khaldun in 1377 which presents a view ofuniversal history.[1] Some modern thinkers view it as the first work dealing with thesocial sciences ofsociology,[2][3]demography,[citation needed] andcultural history.[4] TheMuqaddimah also deals withIslamic theology,historiography,[5] thephilosophy of history,[2] economics,[6][7]political theory, and ecology.[8][9] It has also been described as a precursor or an early representative ofsocial Darwinism,[10] andDarwinism.[clarification needed][11]
Ibn Khaldun wrote the work in 1377 as the introduction and the first book of his planned work of worldhistory, theKitab al-ʿIbar ("Book of Lessons"; full title:Kitābu l-ʻibari wa Dīwāni l-Mubtada' wal-Ḥabar fī ayāmi l-ʻarab wal-ʿajam wal-barbar, waman ʻĀsarahum min Dhawī sh-Shalṭāni l-Akbār, i.e.: "Book of Lessons, Record of Beginnings and Events in the history of the Arabs and Foreigners and Berbers and their Powerful Contemporaries"), but already in his lifetime it became regarded as an independent work on its own.
Muqaddimah (مُقَدِّمَة) is anArabic word used to mean "prologue" or "introduction", to introduce a larger work.
Ibn Khaldun wrote the first version of theMuqaddimah inQalʿat ibn Salama, where hesecluded himself for almost four years after withdrawing from political life.[12] It is the first of three parts of a project he worked on for almost thirty years: hisKitab al-ʿIbar, a massive work of universal history filling seventeen volumes of 500 pages each in its modern edition.[12] A draft of theMuqaddimah was completed in 1377.[13] Manuscripts of theMuqaddimah copied in the lifetime of Ibn Khaldun are extant, and a number of them haveautographed marginal notes or additions.[14]
In theMuqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun expounds on a "new science" around which he had maintained secrecy up until his retirement to Qalʿat ibn Salama, a new science for the study of what he calls "ʿumrān" (عُمران).[12][15][16] This new science,ʿilm al-ʿumrān (عِلم العُمران), is based onGreco-Arab philosophy and seeks to study the evolution of humankind and society throughout history using a method that is essentially historical, empirical, rational, and demonstrative.[12][15]
TheMuqaddimah—shaped by Ibn Khaldun's characteristic moderation with regard to politics and religion—was met without much enthusiasm or clear hostility in the first few centuries after it was written.[12] It was alluded to in the works of two Moroccan writers,Muḥammad Ibn al-Sakkāk (d. 1413) and Yaʿqūb b. Mūsā al-Saytānī, butMuḥammad b. ʿAlī Ibn al-Azraq (d. 1496) is apparently the only contemporary writer of the Maghreb who clearly approved of his work, quoting from it abundantly in hisBadāʾiʿ al-silk fī ṭabāʾiʿ al-mulk[17] (كتاب بدائع السلك في طبائع الملك).[12]
It was cited more often in works from Egypt, celebrated by disciples includingAl-Maqrizi (1364–1442) and Ibn ʿAmmār, and met with hostility by others such asIbn Hajar al-Asqalani and his masterNur al-Din al-Haythami.[12]
In the following centuries, Khaldun appeared prominently, described as an authority on political history, in numerous biographical dictionaries—especially inAhmed Muhammad al-Maqqari'sNafḥ al-ṭīb min ghuṣn al-Andalus al-raṭīb [ar]—but theMuqaddimah remained largely absent.[12]
Ottoman historians includingKâtip Çelebi (d. 1657) andMustafa Naima (d. 1716) valued the social and political theories in theMuqaddimah, but did not apply them in the analysis of their own society.[12] The first five out of six chapters were translated intoOttoman Turkish byMehmed Pirizade [ar] (d. 1749), and the sixth chapter was translated byAhmed Cevdet (d. 1895); the complete translation was published 1860/61.[12][13][18]
TheMuqaddimah was first printed in 1857 at theBulaq Press in Cairo in a standalone volume made byNaṣr al-Hūrīnī [ar], with crucial support fromRifa'a at-Tahtawi, and as the first volume in a seven-volume set ofKitab al-ʿIbar a decade later.[19]
Abdesselam Cheddadi concludes that "the strictly scientific contribution of Ibn Khaldūn to the field of history and the social sciences was not fully recognised in the Muslim world until the late nineteenth century."[12]
TheMuqaddimah was first discovered in France through the partial Turkish translation ofMehmed Pirizade [ar] (d. 1749).[12] In 1858, the year following the first publication in Cairo,Étienne-Marc Quatremère printed an edition of the Arabic text of theMuqaddimah in three volumes in Paris under the titleLes Prolégomènes d’Ebn Khaldoun.[12]William McGuckin de Slane published a French translation in three volumes in 1863 thatAziz al-Azmeh regards as the best translation of Ibn Khaldun's text.[20]
An English translation was published byFranz Rosenthal in 1958.[18][20]
The concept of "ʿasabiyyah" (Arabic: "tribalism, clanism, communitarism", or in a modern context, "group feeling", "social cohesion", "solidarity" or even "nationalism") is one of the best known aspects of theMuqaddimah. As this ʿasabiyyah declines, another more compelling ʿasabiyyah may take its place; thus, civilizations rise and fall, and history describes these cycles of ʿasabiyyah as they play out.[21][22]
Ibn Khaldun argues that each dynasty has within itself the seeds of its own downfall. He explains that ruling houses tend to emerge on the peripheries of great empires and use the unity presented by those areas to their advantage in order to bring about a change in leadership. As the new rulers establish themselves at the center of their empire, they become increasingly lax and more concerned with maintaining their lifestyles. Thus, a new dynasty can emerge at the periphery of their control and effect a change in leadership, beginning the cycle anew.
Ibn Khaldun wrote on economic and political theory in theMuqaddimah, relating his thoughts on ʿasabiyyah to the division of labor: the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the division may be, the greater theeconomic growth:
When civilization [population] increases, the available labor again increases. In turn, luxury again increases in correspondence with the increasing profit, and the customs and needs of luxury increase. Crafts are created to obtain luxury products. The value realized from them increases, and, as a result, profits are again multiplied in the town. Production there is thriving even more than before. And so it goes with the second and third increase. All the additional labor serves luxury and wealth, in contrast to the original labor that served the necessity of life.[23]
Ibn Khaldun noted that growth and development positively stimulate both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determine the prices of goods. He also noted macroeconomic forces of population growth,human capital development, and technological developments effects on development. Ibn Khaldun held that population growth was a function of wealth.[23]
He understood that money served as a standard of value, a medium of exchange, and a preserver of value, though he did not realize that the value of gold and silver changed based on the forces of supply and demand.[23] Ibn Khaldun also introduced thelabor theory of value. He described labor as the source of value, necessary for all earnings andcapital accumulation, obvious in the case of craft. He argued that even if earning "results from something other than a craft, the value of the resulting profit and acquired (capital) must (also) include the value of the labor by which it was obtained. Without labor, it would not have been acquired."[6]
Ibn Khaldun describes a theory of prices through his understanding that prices result from the law of supply and demand. He understood that when a good is scarce and in demand, its price is high and when the good is abundant, its price is low.
The inhabitants of a city have more food than they need. Consequently, the price of food is low, as a rule, except when misfortunes occur due to celestial conditions that may affect [the supply of] food.[24]
His theory of ʿasabiyyah has often been compared to modernKeynesian economics, with Ibn Khaldun's theory clearly containing the concept of themultiplier. A crucial difference, however, is that whereas forJohn Maynard Keynes it is themiddle class's greater propensity to save that is to blame foreconomic depression, for Ibn Khaldun it is the governmental propensity to save at times wheninvestment opportunities do not take up the slack which leads toaggregate demand.[25]
Another modern economic theory anticipated by Ibn Khaldun issupply-side economics.[26] He "argued that hightaxes were often a factor in causing empires to collapse, with the result that lower revenue was collected from high rates." He wrote:[27]
It should be known that at the beginning of the dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.
Ibn Khaldun introduced the concept now popularly known as theLaffer curve, that increases in tax rates initially increase tax revenues, but eventually the increases in tax rates cause a decrease in tax revenues. This occurs as too high a tax rate discourages producers in the economy.
Ibn Khaldun used adialectic approach to describe the sociological implications of tax choice (which now forms a part ofeconomics theory):
In the early stages of the state, taxes are light in their incidence, but fetch in a large revenue ... As time passes and kings succeed each other, they lose their tribal habits in favor of more civilized ones. Their needs and exigencies grow ... owing to the luxury in which they have been brought up. Hence they impose fresh taxes on their subjects ...and sharply raise the rate of old taxes to increase their yield ... But the effects on business of this rise in taxation make themselves felt. For business men are soon discouraged by the comparison of their profits with the burden of their taxes ... Consequently production falls off, and with it the yield of taxation.[citation needed]
This analysis is very similar to the modern economic concept known as the Laffer curve. Laffer does not claim to have invented the concept himself, noting that the idea was present in the work of Ibn Khaldun and, more recently,John Maynard Keynes.[28]
TheMuqaddimah is also held to be a foundational work for the schools ofhistoriography,cultural history, and thephilosophy of history.[4] TheMuqaddimah also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role ofstate,communication,propaganda andsystemic bias in history.[citation needed]
Franz Rosenthal wrote in theHistory of Muslim Historiography:
Muslim historiography has at all times been united by the closest ties with the general development of scholarship in Islam, and the position of historical knowledge in MusIim education has exercised a decisive influence upon the intellectual level of historical writing....The Muslims achieved a definite advance beyond previous historical writing in thesociological understanding ofhistory and the systematisation ofhistoriography. The development of modern historical writing seems to have gained considerably in speed and substance through the utilization of a Muslim Literature which enabled western historians, from the seventeenth century on, to see a large section of the world through foreign eyes. The Muslim historiography helped indirectly and modestly to shape present day historical thinking.[29]
TheMuqaddimah states that history is a philosophical science, and historians should attempt to refute myths.[30] Ibn Khaldun approached the past as strange and in need of interpretation. The originality of Ibn Khaldun was to claim that the cultural difference of another age must govern the evaluation of relevant historical material, to distinguish the principles according to which it might be possible to attempt the evaluation, and lastly, to feel the need for experience, in addition to rational principles, in order to assess a culture of the past. Ibn Khaldun often criticized "idlesuperstition and uncritical acceptance of historical data". As a result, he introduced ascientific method to the study of history, which was considered something "new to his age", and he often referred to it as his "new science", now associated withhistoriography.[31]: x
Ibn Khaldun is considered a pioneer of thephilosophy of history.[2]Dawood writes on theMuqaddimah:
It can be regarded as the earliest attempt made by any historian to discover a pattern in the changes that occur in man's political and social organization. Rational in its approach, analytical in its method, encyclopaedic in detail, it represents an almost complete departure from traditional historiography, discarding conventional concepts and cliches and seeking, beyond the mere chronicle of events, an explanation—and hence a philosophy of history.[31]: ix
TheMuqaddimah emphasized the role ofsystemic bias in affecting thestandard of evidence. Khaldun was quite concerned with the effect of raising the standard of evidence when confronted with uncomfortable claims, and relaxing it when given claims that seemed reasonable or comfortable. He was a jurist, and sometimes participated reluctantly in rulings that he felt were coerced, based on arguments he did not respect. Besidesal-Maqrizi (1364–1442),[30] Ibn Khaldun's focused attempt systematically to study and account for biases in the creation of history wouldn't be seen again untilGeorg Hegel,Karl Marx, andFriedrich Nietzsche[citation needed] in 19th-century Germany, andArnold J. Toynbee, a 20th-century British historian.[citation needed]
Ibn Khaldun also examines why, throughout history, it has been common for historians tosensationalize historical events and, in particular, exaggerate numerical figures:
Whenever contemporaries speak about the dynastic armies of their own or recent times, and whenever they engage in discussions about Muslim or Christian soldiers, or when they get to figuring the tax revenues and the money spent by the government, the outlays of extravagant spenders, and the goods that rich and prosperous men have in stock, they are quite generally found to exaggerate, to go beyond the bounds of the ordinary, and to succumb to the temptation of sensationalism. When the officials in charge are questioned about their armies, when the goods and assets of wealthy people are assessed, and when the outlays of extravagant spenders are looked at in ordinary light, the figures will be found to amount to a tenth of what those people have said. The reason is simple. It is the common desire for sensationalism, the ease with which one may just mention a higher figure, and the disregard of reviewers and critics.[31]: 13–14
TheMuqaddimah contains discussions onIslamic theology which show that Ibn Khaldun was a follower of the orthodoxAsh'ari school ofSunni Islamic thought and a supporter ofal-Ghazali's religious views. He was also a critic ofNeoplatonism, particularly its notion of ahierarchy of being.[citation needed]
TheMuqaddimah covers the historical development ofkalam and the different schools of Islamic thought, notably theMu'tazili andAsh'ari schools. Ibn Khaldun, being a follower of the Ash'ari school, criticizes the views of the Mu'tazili school, and bases his criticisms on the views ofAbu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, whom he describes as "the mediator between different approaches in thekalam". Ibn Khaldun also covers the historical development ofIslamic logic in the context of theology, as he viewed logic as being distinct fromearly Islamic philosophy, and believed that philosophy should remain separate from theology. The book also contains commentaries on verses from theQur'an.[32]
Ibn Khaldun was anIslamic jurist and discussed the topics ofsharia (Islamic law) andfiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) in hisMuqaddimah. Ibn Khaldun wrote that "Jurisprudence is the knowledge of the classification of the laws ofGod." In regards to jurisprudence, he acknowledged the inevitability of change in all aspects of acommunity, and wrote:
The conditions, customs and beliefs of peoples and nations do not indefinitely follow the same pattern and adhere to a constant course. There is rather, change with days and epochs, as well as passing from one state to another ... such is the law of God that has taken place with regard to His subjects.[33]
Ibn Khaldun further described Fiqh jurisprudence as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required (wajib), forbidden (haraam), recommended (mandūb), disapproved (makruh) or merely permitted (mubah)".[34]
Some of Ibn Khaldun's thoughts, according to some commentators, anticipate thebiological theory ofevolution.[35] Ibn Khaldun asserted that humans developed from "the world of the monkeys", in a process by which "species become more numerous" in Chapter 1 of theMuqaddimah:[35]
One should then take a look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word 'connection' with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the newest group.The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man. This is as far as our (physical) observation extends.[36]: 137–138
Ibn Khaldun believed thathumans are the most evolved form ofanimals, in that they have the ability to reason. TheMuqaddimah also states in Chapter 6:
We explained there that the whole of existence in (all) its simple and composite worlds is arranged in a natural order of ascent and descent, so that everything constitutes an uninterrupted continuum. The essences at the end of each particular stage of the worlds are by nature prepared to be transformed into the essence adjacent to them, either above or below them. This is the case with the simple material elements; it is the case with palms and vines, (which constitute) the last stage of plants, in their relation to snails and shellfish, (which constitute) the (lowest) stage of animals. It is also the case with monkeys, creatures combining in themselves cleverness and perception, in their relation to man, the being who has the ability to think and to reflect. The preparedness (for transformation) that exists on either side, at each stage of the worlds, is meant when (we speak about) their connection.[36]: 553
Plants do not have the same fineness and power that animals have. Therefore, the sages rarely turned to them. Animals are the last and final stage of the three permutations. Minerals turn into plants, and plants into animals, but animals cannot turn into anything finer than themselves.[36]: 691
His evolutionary ideas appear to be similar to those found in theEncyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity. Ibn Khaldun was also an adherent ofenvironmental determinism. He believed that theblack skin, practices, and customs of the people ofsub-Saharan Africa were due to the region's hot climate, a theory that according to Rosenthal may have been influenced by the Greek geographical ideas expounded by Ptolemy'sTetrabiblos.[36] Ibn Khaldun viewed theHamitic theory, where the sons ofHam became black as the result of a curse from God, as a myth.[37]
Shoaib Ahmed Malik has argued that Ibn Khaldun's theory, while remarkable for its acceptance of the kinship between monkeys and humans, should be understood in the context of thelate antique and medieval concept of thegreat chain of being. This theory postulates a linked hierarchy between all entities in creation but is not properly a theory of evolution.[38] The system of the great chain of being implies a graded similarity between the various stages in the hierarchy from minerals to plants, animals, humans, angels, and God, but not a temporal process in which one species originates from the other. While according to some mystical interpretations individual souls may move up the 'ladder' in order to reunite with the divine, the species (or 'substantial forms', in the language of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ontology) themselves are eternal and fixed.[39] Malik states that quotes from theMuqadimmah like the first one cite above are often given without proper regard for their context.[40] The quote is taken from a section calledThe Real Meaning of Prophecy, which argues that prophets occupy a place in the great chain of being just beneath angels. In Ibn Khaldun's view, this explains why individual prophets maytemporarily ascend to the rank of angels and share with them in the knowledge of the divine, which they may then bring back to humanity in the form ofrevelation. According to Malik, interpretations that see in this an early form of scientific evolution theory ought to explain how angels, prophets and the upwards ascent of the soul fit into that theory.[41]
Ibn Khaldun was a critic of the practice ofalchemy. TheMuqaddimah discusses the history of alchemy, the views of alchemists such asJabir ibn Hayyan, and the theories of thetransmutation of metals andelixir of life. One chapter of the book contains a systematic refutation of alchemy on social,[42] scientific, philosophical and religious grounds.[43]
He begins his refutation on social grounds, arguing that many alchemists are incapable of earning a living and end up "losing their credibility because of the futility of their attempts",[42] and states that if transmutation were possible, the disproportionate growth of gold and silver "would maketransactions useless and would run counter to divine wisdom". He argues that some alchemists resort tofraud, either openly by applying a thin layer ofgold on top of silver jewelry, or by secretly using an artificial procedure of covering whitenedcopper withsublimatedmercury.
Ibn Khaldun states that most alchemists are honest and believe that the transmutation of metals is possible, but he argues that transmutation is an implausible theory since there has been no successful attempt to date. He ends his arguments with a restatement of his position: "Alchemy can only be achieved through psychic influences (bi-ta'thirat al-nufus). Extraordinary things are either miracles or witchcraft ... They are unbounded; nobody can claim to acquire them."[42]
In theMuqaddimah's introductory remarks, Ibn Khaldun agrees with theclassical republicanism[citation needed] of theAristotelian proposition that man is political by nature, and that man's interdependence creates the need for the politicalcommunity. Yet he argues that men and tribes need to defend themselves from potential attacks, and thus political communities are formed. The glue which holds such tribes together and eventually forms "royal authority" or the state,[citation needed] according to Ibn Khaldun, is ʿasabiyyah. He argues that the best type of political community is a caliphate or Islamic state, and argues that the neo-Platonist political theories ofal-Farabi andIbn Sina and the "perfect state" (Madinatu l-Faḍīlah) are useless because God's Law, thesharia, has been revealed to take account of public interest and the afterlife. The second most perfect state, Ibn Khaldun argues, is one based on justice and consideration for public welfare in this life, but not based on religious law and so not beneficial to one's afterlife. Ibn Khaldun calls this state blameworthy. Yet the worst type of state, according to Ibn Khaldun, is a tyranny wherein government usurps property rights and rules with injustice against the rights of men. He argues that if that is not possible for a ruler to be both loved and feared, then it is better to be loved, because fear creates many negative effects in the state's population.
Ibn Khaldun writes that civilizations have lifespans like individuals, and that every state will eventually fall because sedentary luxuries distract them, and eventually government begins to overtax citizens and begin injustice against property rights, and "injustice ruins civilization". Eventually after one dynasty or royal authority falls, it is replaced by another, in a continuous cycle.
The British philosopher-anthropologistErnest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition ofgovernment, "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history ofpolitical philosophy.[44]
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