Ibn Chaldun

Statue of Ibn Chalduns, Tunis

Walī ad-Dīn ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Muhammad Ibn Chaldūn al-Hadramī ( Arabic ولي الدين عبد الرحمن ابن محمد ابن خلدون الحضرمي, DMG Walī ad-Dīn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad Ibn Ḫaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī ; * May 27, 1332 in Tunis ; † March 17, 1406 in Cairo ) was an Arab historian and politician . Ibn Chaldun's way of looking at societal and social conflicts makes him one of the forerunners of a sociological way of thinking . Political order, as Ibn Chaldūn generalizes in a very profane way the experiences of inner-Islamic power struggles, ultimately stands and falls with the feeling of togetherness ( ʿAsabīya ), as it arises in the culture of tribal life.

origin

Ibn Chaldun came from a noble family, the banū chaldūn , who lived for several generations in Carmona and Seville , Andalusia . The ancestors had already added the name Chaldūn as a derivation from Chalid . In his autobiography Ibn Chaldun traces his ancestry back to the time of the Prophet Mohammed to an Arab-Yemeni tribe from the Hadramaut , whose members came to Spain at the beginning of the Islamic conquest . His family, who held numerous high offices in Andalusia, emigrated to Ceuta , North Africa , at the beginning of the Reconquista , around the middle of the 13th century . In the Hafsid dynasty - under the Emir Abu Zakariya 'Yahya I (1228–1249) - some members of the family occupied political offices, but Ibn Chaldūn's father and grandfather withdrew from political life and joined a mystical order ( Tariqa ; see also Sufism ).

Life

Ibn Chaldun's life is extraordinarily well documented for his time, as he left an autobiography in which he literally quotes numerous documents relating to his life. However, he is very reluctant to make statements about his private life, so that little is learned about his family circumstances. For this he compensates the reader with short biographies of his teachers and by mentioning the writings he had studied with them in his youth. He also provides information about his private correspondence, which he quotes verbatim. He completed his autobiography, of which two autographs are available, a few months before his death.

The Maghreb was ruled in the epoch of Ibn Chaldūns after the fall of the Almohads (1147–1269) by three dynasties, who raged in constant battles among themselves. The Merinids (1196–1464) resided in what is now Morocco . West Algeria was the zayyanid dynasty ruled (1236-1556) and the Hafsids (1228-1574) ruled eastern Algeria, Tunisia and Cyrenaica . Under constant threat from the incursions of the neighboring Berber tribes , these dynasties fought for hegemony over the Maghreb.

Early years in Tunis

The high rank of his family helped Ibn Chaldūn to study with the best teachers in North Africa at that time. Ibn Chaldūn received a classical Arabic education: Koran , Arabic linguistics , which formed the basis for understanding the Koran and Islamic law, hadith and jurisprudence ( fiqh ). The mystic, mathematician and philosopher al-Ābilī introduced him to mathematics , logic and philosophy , studying mainly the works of Averroes , Avicenna , Rhazes and at-Tusī . At the age of 17 Ibn Chaldūn lost both parents to the " Black Death ", the plague, which was rampant on three continents and which also raged in Tunis.

Following the family tradition, Ibn Chaldūn sought a political career. In view of the constantly changing balance of power and rulers in the Maghreb at that time, this meant performing a skillful balancing act, forging alliances and giving up loyalties in good time so as not to be drawn into the downfall of the sometimes very short-lived rulers. Ibn Chaldūn's biography, which led him to dungeon, to the highest offices and into exile, reads like an adventure novel in places .

After his training in Tunis he became secretary of the Hafsid sultan Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II al-Mustansir. He had already maintained good relations with the Merinid court in 1347, when Abu 'l-Hasan had occupied Tunis. At the age of twenty he was appointed to the office of kātib al-ʿalāma  /كاتب العلامة in the office of Ibn Tafrāgīn.

At the Merinidenhof in Fès

In 1354 Ibn Chaldūn was summoned to the court in Fez by the Merinid ruler Abū ʿInān Fāris and accepted into the sultan's scientific circle. During this time Ibn Chaldun lived and worked in the immediate vicinity of the Madrasa Bū ʿInānīya - today in the street at-Tal'a l-kbira  - which is considered one of the most beautiful examples of Moroccan architecture. The task of the kātib al-ʿalāma was to put the typical introductory phrases on official documents in fine calligraphy . The Merinid ruler there, Abu Inan, later gave him a post as scribe of the royal proclamations, but this did not prevent Chaldūn from intriguing against his employer. That put the 25-year-old in prison for 22 months in 1357. He was only released by Abu Inan's son and successor after Abu Inan's death (1358). Ibn Chaldun and his exiled uncle, Abu Salim, conspired against him . When Abu Salim came to power, Ibn Khaldūn was appointed Secretary of State katibu s-sirr wa-t-tauqi 'wal-inscha'  / كاتب السر والتوقيع والانشاء / kātibu ʾs-sirri wa-ʾt-tauqīʿ wa-ʾl-inšāʾ the first position that Ibn Ibn Chaldūn's claims did justice to.

At the Nasrid Court in Granada

After the overthrow of Abu Salim by Amar Ibn Abd Allah, a friend of Ibn Chaldūn, Ibn Ibn Chaldūn's expectations were disappointed - he was not given any important office under the new ruler. Amar also successfully prevented Ibn Chaldūn, whose political abilities he knew all too well, from joining the Abdalwadids in Tlemcen . Ibn Chaldūn therefore decided in his thirst for political action to move to Granada in autumn 1362 . There he could be sure of a warm welcome, as he had helped Granada's emir , the Nasrid Muhammad V , in Fez to regain his rule from this temporary exile. In 1364 Muhammad entrusted him with a diplomatic mission to the King of Castile , Pedro the Cruel , in order to conclude a peace treaty. Ibn Chaldūn completed the assignment successfully. However, he politely declined Pedro's offer to return his family's Spanish property and to stay at his court.

In Granada, however, Ibn Khaldūn quickly came into competition with Muhammad's vizier Ibn al-Chatib, who followed the close relationship between Ibn Khaldūn and Muhammad with growing suspicion. Ibn Khaldun tried to shape the young Muhammad according to his ideal of a wise ruler, an endeavor that Ibn al-Khatib thought was unwise and endangered the peace of the country - and history proved him right. Ibn Khaldun was finally sent back to North Africa at the instigation of Ibn al-Khatib. Ibn al-Khatib, however, was later accused and executed by Muhammad V of unorthodox philosophical views.

In his autobiography Ibn Chaldūn says little about the conflict with Ibn al-Khatib and the reasons for his return to Africa. The orientalist Muhsin Mahdi interprets this as an indirect admission of Ibn Chaldun to have assessed Muhammad V completely wrong.

High political offices

Back in Ifrīqiya , Ibn Khaldun happily accepted the invitation of the Hafsid sultan Abū ʿAbdallāh in Bougie to become his prime minister . It was during this period that Ibn Chaldūn's adventurous commission was to collect taxes from the local Berber tribes . After the death of Abū ʿAbdallāhs in 1366, he changed fronts again and joined the ruler of Constantine , Abū l-ʿAbbās. From 1372 to 1375 he lived again with the Merinids in Fès.

Ibn Chaldūn's political talent, especially in dealing with the nomadic Berber tribes, was meanwhile in great demand among the Maghreb rulers, whereas he himself was rather tired of politics and constant changing sides. From Abū Hammū, the Abdalwadid Sultan of Tlemcen, sent on a mission to the Dawawida tribes, Ibn Chaldūn sought refuge with one of the Berber tribes, the Aulad ʿArīf . For three years (1375-1379) he lived under her protection in the Fort Qalʿat Ibn Salāma near Oran. During this time the muqaddima was created , the introduction to his planned world history . To complete the work, however, he lacked the necessary literature on the fort.

Therefore Ibn Chaldun returned to Tunis in 1378 and continued to work there on his historical work , the Kitāb al-ʿibar . Abū l-ʿAbbās, who had meanwhile conquered Tunis, took Ibn Khaldūn again into his service, but their relationship remained strained. Abū l-ʿAbbās doubted the loyalty of Ibn Chaldūn, who had given him a copy of the completed world history, but had simply omitted the panegyric of the ruler that was common at the time. Under the pretext of wanting to make the pilgrimage to Mecca - a request that no Islamic ruler could simply refuse - Ibn Chaldūn received permission to leave Tunis in 1382 and sail to Alexandria .

Last years in Cairo

Compared to the Maghreb , Ibn Chaldun must have felt like he was in paradise in Egypt . While all other Islamic regions struggled with border wars and internal disputes, Egypt enjoyed an economic and cultural boom under the rule of the Mamluks .

But even in Egypt, where Ibn Chaldun spent the rest of his life, he could not stay out of politics entirely. In 1384 Sultan Barquq appointed him professor of the Qamhiyya Madrasa and the highest Maliki Qadi . The four Muslim schools of law, the Hanafis , Malikites , Shafiites and Hanbalites , traditionally each had their own chief judge. Ibn Chaldūn belonged to the Maliki school of law , which was mainly widespread in West Africa . In his reformatory administration, however, he encountered resistance and had to give up his judicial office in the first year.

The severe blow of fate that hit Ibn Chaldūn in 1384 may also have contributed to his more or less voluntary resignation. A ship that was to bring his family to Cairo was wrecked off the coast of Alexandria; Ibn Chaldūn lost his wife and children, with the exception of two sons. Since his position at the Sultan's court was shaken, he retired to his estate near the Fayyum oasis . In 1387 he decided to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, where he also spent some time in libraries.

After his return in May 1388, Ibn Chaldūn concentrated more on teaching at various Cairo madrasas . He fell temporarily out of favor at court because, during a revolt against Barquq - under pressure - he and other Cairo lawyers had issued a fatwa , a legal opinion against Barquq. Later, his relationship with Barquq normalized again and he received a renewed appointment to the Maliki Qadi . A total of six times he was appointed to this high office, which he never kept for very long for very different reasons.

Under Barquq's successor, his son Faraj , Ibn Chaldun took part in a campaign against the Mongolian conqueror Timur Lenk , who marched on Damascus . Almost seventy-year-old Chaldun did not actually want to leave Egypt, but eventually took part in the military undertaking. Induced by rumors of a revolt against him, the young Faraj left his army in what is now Syria and hurried back to Cairo with a retinue of advisors and officers. Ibn Chaldun stayed with others in besieged Damascus.

There were historical meetings between him and Timur Lenk in December 1400 and early 1401, about which he reports in detail in his autobiography. He was a member of the delegation of the citizens of Damascus, which Timur Lenk should ask for mercy for their city. The meetings lasted two weeks and the conversations between the conqueror and the intellectual covered a wide variety of topics. Timur Lenk asked Ibn Chaldūn in detail about the conditions in the countries of the Maghreb, about which Ibn Chaldūn wrote him a long report that was translated into a Turkish dialect and is now considered lost.

Ibn Chaldūn then returned to Cairo in mid-March 1401. He spent the next five years in Cairo, completing his autobiography and universal history, and working as a teacher and judge. He died on March 17, 1406, a month after his sixth appointment as a Maliki Qadi.

Works

Unlike most Arab scholars, Ibn Khaldun wrote few other works besides his universal history, the Kitāb al-ʿibar . It is striking that in his autobiography there is no mention of these writings at all, which some scholars take as an indication that Ibn Khaldun saw himself primarily as a historian and wanted to be known exclusively as the author of the Kitāb al-Jibar . From other sources, however, we also know of some other works, the time of which mainly falls during Ibn Chaldun's period of life, which he spent in the Maghreb and Spain.

Title page of the autograph: Lubab al-muhassal

Lubāb al-muḥaṣṣal

His first book, Lubāb al-muḥaṣṣal fī uṣūli d-dīn ("The quintessence of the 'summary' of theology") is a comprehensive commentary on the theology of Faḫr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī, which he wrote at the age of 19 under the supervision of his teacher al -Ābilī in Tunis. The autograph, dated 1351, is kept in the Escorial library. A work on Sufism (Islamic mysticism), shifa 'as-sa'il  /شفاء السائل / šifāʾu ʾs-sāʾil  / 'The Healing of the Seeker', originated around 1373 in Fez. During his stays in Fez and Granada between 1351 and 1364 he commented on unspecified treatises on logic at the court of Abū Sālim, the Sultan of Morocco ( ʿAllaqa li-s-sulṭān ) - as did the Andalusian historian Ibn al-Khatib († 1374 or 1375) knows how to report. Nothing is known of the work; even Ibn Khaldun does not mention it in his al-Ta'rif. The comments may have been just comments on the study of logic in the Sultan's circle.

The Kitāb al-ʿIbar

The Kitāb al-ʿIbar wa-dīwānu l-mubtadaʾ wa-l-ḫabar fī aiyāmi l-ʿArab wa-l-ʿAǧam wa-ʾl-Barbarian wa-man ʿāṣara-hum min ḏawī s-sulṭāni l-akbar ("Book of Notes “Record of the beginnings and events from the days of the Arabs, Persians and Berbers and those of their contemporaries who had great power”) is Ibn Chaldūn's main work and was originally conceived as the history of the Berbers. However, the author later expanded the original concept so that this life's work in the final version represents a so-called " universal story " - also with its own methodology and anthropology . It is divided into seven books, the first of which, the Muqaddima , is considered an independent work. Books two through five cover the history of mankind up to the epoch of Ibn Khaldun. Finally, in volumes six and seven we find the history of the Berber peoples and the Maghreb, which for the historian make the real value of the Kitab al-ibar , since Ibn Chaldūn processed his personal knowledge of the Berber tribes in the Maghreb here.

The muqaddima

The muqaddima المقدّمة / al-muqaddima  / 'the introduction', which in the Cairo print of 1967 comprises a total of 1475 pages, is the groundbreaking work of Ibn Chaldūn and is widely regarded as more important than the universal history itself. Ibn Chaldūn worked on the muqaddima all his life; In the National Library of Tunis there are manuscripts of the work with entries and corrections made by the author himself, which have not been taken into account in the previous printed editions.

“Then look at creation . How it begins with the minerals and how it goes over to the plants and then in the most beautiful way and gradually to the animals. The end of the level of minerals is connected with the beginning of the level of plants. So things at the end of the mineral stage are associated with herbs and seedless plants that are on the first stage of the plant world. Date palm and grapevine, which mark the end of the plant world, are associated with snails and shellfish on the first level of the animal world, which only have the sense of touch. In this world of creation and genesis, this "connectedness" means that things on the last stage of one group have the potential to evolve into things on the first stage of the next group. So the animal world expanded, the number of animal species increased, and the gradual process of creation finally led to humans who can think and reflect. This higher level of man was reached from the world of the apes, who, although they have wisdom and perception, have not yet achieved the ability to think and reflect currently. At this point the first level of man has been reached. "

- Ibn Chaldūn, Muqaddima, introduction :

With this work, Ibn Chaldūn created a science for the first time in Islamic culture that dealt with a precise, fact-based analysis of Islamic history. Ibn Khaldun used his own methodology to try to fathom the causes that led to the rise and fall of the Arab dynasties. While the Arab-Islamic historians had always tried to present the historical events, especially the history of the dynasties, in an annalistic form and on the basis of earlier, oral and later written reports, Ibn Chaldūn in his work repeatedly raises the question of the Causes of historical developments, which he assigns to social, cultural, climatic and other factors. In his foreword to Muqaddima , which he also wrote in the tradition of Adab at the highest level of Arabic rhyming prose , Ibn Chaldūn presents historiography as one of the most important branches of science that deals with the origin and development of civilization. At the same time, he distances himself from conventional historiography and replaces it with the historical perspective he introduced. In these considerations and analyzes, which are unique in the Islamic sciences, he explains the legitimacy of state power and its roots using the ancient Arabic term of Asabiyya, which he reinterpreted  /عصبيّة / ʿAṣabiyya . The translation of this term is difficult - the meanings range from “tribal affiliation”, “blood ties” and “clan solidarity” to “group feeling” and forms of solidarity that are not based solely on consanguinity (e.g. clientele relationships). For Ibn Khaldun, the asabiyya is an essential prerequisite for establishing and maintaining worldly power ( mulk ) in every epoch of history. Worldly power and its maintenance is the basis of any orderly civilization.

His doctrine of civilization and culture ilm al-umran  /علم العمران / ʿIlmu ʾl-ʿumrān includes detailed discussions of the relationship between rural-Bedouin and urban-sedentary life, which depicts a social conflict that is central to him . In this context and with the help of the concept of asabiyya , he explains the rise and fall of civilizations in both Islamic and non-Islamic history, whereby religion and belief can also supplement and flank the effect of asabiyya , such as during the rule of the caliphs . The Bedouins, as inhabitants of the rural regions, have a strong asabiyya and are more firm in their beliefs, while the inhabitants of the cities become more and more decadent and corrupt over the course of several generations , so their asabiyya is losing strength. After a span of several generations, the power of the urban dynasty based on the asabiyya has shrunk to such an extent that it falls victim to an aggressive tribe from the land with stronger asabiyya , who, after conquering and partially destroying the cities, establishes a new dynasty.

The autobiography

At-taʿrīf bi-bni Ḫaldūn wa-riḥlatu-hu ġarban wa-šarqan ("The Presentation of Ibn Chaldūn and His Journey in the West and in the East"), ed. by Muḥammad ibn Tāwīt at-Tandschī, Cairo 1951.

Fonts

• ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmān Ibn-Ḫaldūn: Kitāb al-ʿIbar wa-dīwān al-mubtadaʾ wa-'l-ḫabar fī aiyām al-ʿarab wa-'l-ʿaǧam wa-'l-barbar wa-man ʿāṣarahum s min ḏaw -sulṭān al-akbar. Incl. the Muqaddima and the autobiography ( at-Taʿrīf ) based on the manuscripts edited by the author himself under the direction of Ibrāhīm Šabbūḥ in 14 volumes, ed. Dār al-Qairawān, Tūnis 2006–2013, ISBN 978-9973-10-232-4 to ISBN 978-9973-896-15-5 .
• Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddima: Reflections on World History. Transferred and with an introduction by Alma Giese with the assistance of Wolfhart Heinrichs. Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62237-3 .
• Ibn Khaldūn: Book of Examples. The introduction. Translated and introduced by Mathias Pätzold. Reclam, Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-379-01440-0 .
• Ibn Chaldun: Selected Sections from the Muqaddima. Edited and translated by Annemarie Schimmel . Mohr, Tübingen 1951, DNB 452187591 .
• Ibn Khaldûn: Le Livre des Exemples. Tome I. Autobiography of Muquaddima. Ed., Trans. and annotated by Abdesselam Cheddadi. Gallimard, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-07-011425-2 (latest French translation).
• Ibn Khaldûn: The Muqaddimah. An Introduction to History. Ed., Trans. and annotated by Franz Rosenthal. 3 vols. Bollingen, New York 1958, 1986, ISBN 0-7100-0195-9 (classical translation). On the Internet (cpl.): THE MUQADDIMAH , translated by Franz Rosenthal (engl.)
• Ibn Khaldūn: al-Ta'rîf bi-ibn Khaldûn wa-rihlatuhu gharban wa-sharqan. Edited by Muhammad ibn Tâwît al-Tanjî. al-Qahirah, Cairo 1951 (autobiography).
• Ibn Khaldūn: Le Voyage d'Occident et d'Orient. Edited and translated by Abdesselam Cheddadi. Sindbad, Paris 1980, 1995, ISBN 2-7274-3497-9 (French translation of the autobiography).

literature

• Jim Al-Khalili: In the House of Wisdom. The Arab sciences as the foundation of our culture. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-10-000424-6 , p. 364 ff. Jan-Hendryk de Boer: Review .
• Mohammed Kamil Ayad: Ibn Haldun's theory of history and society . JG Cotta'sche Buchh. Nachf., Stuttgart / Berlin 1930 (research on history and social theory, 2; classical dissertation).
• Fuad Baali: The Science of Human Social Organization. Conflicting Views on Ibn Khaldun's (1332–1406) Ilm Al-Umran . Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston NY 2005, ISBN 0-7734-6279-1 (comprehensive literature review).
• Carl Brockelmann : History of Arabic Literature . Second edition adapted to the supplement volumes. tape 2 . Brill, Leiden 1949, p. 314-317 .
• Walter Joseph Fischel: Ibn Khaldūn in Egypt. His Public Functions and His Historical Research, 1382-1406. A Study in Islamic Historiography . University of California Press, Berkeley 1967 (biography and bibliography).
• Ernest Gellner : Conditions of Freedom. Civil society and its rivals . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1995, p. 24 ff .
• Muhsin Mahdi: Ibn Khaldûn's Philosophy of History. A Study in the Philosophic Foundation of the Science of Culture . Allen and Unwin, London 1957, ISBN 0-226-50183-3 (University Press, Chicago 1964/1971 ).
• Muhammad Mahmud Rabi ': The political theory of Ibn Khaldun . Leiden 1967.
• Róbert Simon: Ibn Khaldūn. History as Science and the Patrimonial Empire . Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 2002, ISBN 963-05-7934-0 (thorough discussion of the status of the discussion on Ibn Chaldun).
• M. Talbi: Ibn Khaldun . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition , Volume III, pp. 825-831.
• Mohammed Talbi: Ibn Khaldun et le sens de l'histoire . In: Studia Islamica (SI) . tape 26 . Maisonneuve-Larose, 1967, ISSN  0585-5292 , p. 73-148 .
• Biblioteca de al-Andalus. Enciclopedia de la cultura andalusí, volume 3. Fundación Ibn Tufayl de Estudios Árabes, Almería 2004, ISBN 84-934026-1-3 , pp. 578–597

Web links

• Literature by and about Ibn Chaldūn in the catalog of the German National Library
• Bassam Tibi, Rise and Fall of Civilizations. The last great Islamic philosopher in: DIE WELT October 19, 2006.
• His Life and Work

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 'Ali' Abd al-Wahid Wafi (ed.): Muqaddimat Ibn Chaldūn . Bd.I. (Introduction), p. 40 (Cairo 1965)
2. ↑ M. Talbi : Ibn Kh Aldun . In: EI² , Volume III, p. 826a.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Talbi: Ibn Kh aldūn . In: EI² , Volume III, p. 827a.
4. ^ Biblioteca de al-Andalus. Enciclopedia de la cultura andalusí. Almería 2004. Vol. 3. pp. 643-698
5. ↑ 'Ali' Abd al-Wahid Wafi (Ed.): Muqaddimat Ibn Chaldun . Volume I (Introduction), Cairo 1965, pp. 212-213. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume 3. Brill, Leiden, p. 825
6. ↑ Darwin's Islamic Ancestors. In the 13th century a Persian philosopher recognized the relationship between humans and monkeys. telepolis , July 2, 2017

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 12, 2011 in this version .