Ibn Khaldun

Abstract

Syed Farid Alatas’ Ibn Khaldun is a welcome addition to an emerging Khalduniansociology. It represents one of the few socio-historical studies of histhought that pays attention to this North African thinker’s historical milieuand life. Regarded by many scholars as a precursor of sociology, Ibn Khaldun(1332-1406) is also known for his contributions to the philosophy of history.His pioneering work, Kitāb al-‘Ibar, is more than just a historical account ofthe Arabs and Berbers. Popularly known as the Universal History, it containsthe important Muqaddimah (Prolegomenon) that details his “science of humansociety” (‘ilm al-ijtimā‘ al-insānī) or “science of human social organization”(‘ilm al-‘umrān al-basharī).This six-chapter book opens with “Ibn Khaldun’s Autobiography and HisCharacter,” which outlines his life and presents other biographies that providethe socio-intellectual context of his thought. The second chapter, “Ibn Khaldun’sScience of Society,” focuses on his founding of the science of humansociety and is followed by “Ibn Khaldun on Education and Knowledge,”which examines his modern educationist views of pedagogy and knowledgein terms of its social, political, and economic aspects. Alatas shows that IbnKhaldun’s perspective on education, as seen through the various lenses of historyand sociology, was refreshingly different from the then dominant perspectivesof philosophers, theologians, moralists, and jurists.The ensuing chapter, “The Reception of Ibn Khaldun,” situates him in theevolution of Islamic thought and contemporary social sciences, whereas thetwo final chapters, “The Significance of Ibn Khaldun for the Modern SocialSciences” and “Further Reading and Works Cited,” encapsulate Alatas’ suggestionsfor developing a Khaldunian sociology and include a list of furtherreadings, alongside discussions on works ranging from Ibn Khaldun’s biographyto critiques of his methodology.In the introductory chapter, which provides the context for the formationof Ibn Khaldun’s thought, readers are better able to appreciate his empiricallyoriented scholarship. Embedded in the politically fragmented Maghrebian society,his political career as a judge and government official required him toshift his political loyalties consistently. This played a determining role in developinghis ideas on how states rise and decline. Alatas highlights Ibn Khaldun’spolitical involvement as instrumental in his systematic uncovering of theflaws in existing historical works. Ibn Khaldun himself identifies seven causal ...