The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History

by Ibn Khaldun, N.J. Dawood (Editor), Franz Rosenthal (Translator)

Excellent Book

Genres: History, Philosophy, Politics, Islam, Sociology

512 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

Ibn Khaldūn ابن خلدون (full name, Arabic: أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي‎, Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn Al-Ḥaḍrami; May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was an Arab Muslim historiographer and historian, regarded to be among the founding fathers of modern historiography, sociology and economics.

He is best known for his book The Muqaddimah (known as Prolegomena in Greek). The book influenced 17th-century Ottoman historians like Ḥajjī Khalīfa and Mustafa Naima who used the theories in the book to analyze the growth and decline of the Ottoman Empire.[2] 19th-century European scholars also acknowledged the significance of the book and considered Ibn Khaldun as one of the greatest philosophers to come out of the Muslim world.

ولي الدين أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن محمد بن الحسن بن جابر بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن عبد الرحمن بن خالد (خلدون) الحضرمي مؤسس علم الاجتماع ومؤرخ مسلم من إفريقية في عهد الحفصيين وهي تونس حالياً ترك تراثاً مازال تأثيره ممتداً حتى اليوم.

ولد ابن خلدون في تونس عام بالدار الكائنة بنهج تربة الباي رقم 34. أسرة ابن خلدون أسرة علم وأدب فقد حفظ القرآن الكريم في طفولته وكان أبوه هو معلمه الأول. شغل أجداده في الأندلس وتونس مناصب سياسية ودينية مهمة وكانوا أهل جاه ونفوذ نزح أهله من الأندلس في منتصف القرن السابع الهجري، وتوجهوا إلى تونس وكان قدوم عائلته إلى تونس خلال حكم دولة الحفصيين.

Reviews

[ajwadreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding Islamic Classic.

[Ayah Malouhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing work on the rise and fall of societies and it makes you realise how advanced people were during his time. The book gave me a completely new perspective on the world as well as helped organise ideas I already had. I especially loved section six on the various sciences and his critique of philosophy.

[A, Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best books on historiography as well as on early thought in the Muslim world, It showed the type of thinking they had during the early 10-11 century. no these people back then were not stupid but were logical people that read the greek philosophers and learned from them. Ibn Khaldum was first introduced to me during a historiography class and his book has sat on my shelf ever since. my professor call Khaldun the first modern historian due to his systemic process of sourcing, seeing motivation in all the key players in the what ever historical event they are part of. Khaldun is very much a student of Aristotle but at the same time resents him favoring instead a traditional desert nomadic lifestyle that is closer to that of the prophet but at the same time he cannot help himself he is a urban dweller scholar through and through. this book is great but understand it is also of its time his views on slavery and homosexuality has not aged well. highly recommend this book

[lily pham~]

"Preliminary Remarks" and "Human Civilization in General" (Ch. 1) (pp. 35-48); Sections 1-13 and 21-26 in "Chapter 3" (pp. 123-138; 151-160); "Prefatory Discussion" (Ch. 6) (pp. 333-343); Sections 30-36 (pp. 398-420).

Group feeling, royal authority and their relationship to democracy. Actually pretty interesting read!

[Sakariya Mahad]

Saaaaki

[Shah Ali Ali K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

the translation is boring - but amazed by the foresight and understanding of a 14th century intellectual.

[Aidan Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Hobbes owes rent to this guy