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Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah

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For everyone

Ibn Khaldūn studied history not merely as a sequence of events but together with the causes that explain the rise, ascendancy and decline of societies. He called the solidarity that holds a group together "ʿaṣabiyya" and argued that dynasties rise and fall in about three generations. Some authors regard him as a forerunner of sociology and economics; others think this reads him through modern concepts.

For specialists

The Muqaddimah proposes a method for criticising historical reports: a report's truth should be tested against whether the event fits the nature of "ʿumrān" (social life). It compares nomadic and sedentary societies and discusses economic ideas such as the division of labour, the value of labour and the observation that rising tax rates reduce tax revenue, later compared with the "Laffer curve".

Claims

The truth of historical reports should be tested against knowledge of the nature of social life.^[1]
Dynasties are founded on ʿaṣabiyya and weaken and fall within about three generations.^[1]

Positions

Those who see him as a forerunner: Ibn Khaldūn is one of the first systematic thinkers to try to explain social phenomena through causal laws.^[2]
Those favouring a contextual reading: Calling him the "founder of sociology" detaches his work from the context of the Islamic thought of his time.^[3]

Connections

Parent

Society, history and economics

Views on the origin of living things in Islamic thought Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations Marx and Capital

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Sources

Bookİbn Haldun / Ibn Khaldūn; Rosenthal, F. (trans.) (1958). The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. Princeton University Press (Bollingen Series XLIII)
Encyclopediaİbn Haldûn. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisiislamansiklopedisi.org.tr archive
BookIrwin, R. (2018). Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography. Princeton University Press

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/ibn-haldun/

BibTeX

@misc{athena_ibn_haldun,
  title        = {Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/ibn-haldun/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

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