Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis on May 27, 1332 A.C.E. (Ramadan 1, 732 A.H.). He was an Arab Muslim historiographer and historian, regarded to be among the founding fathers of modern sociology,historiography and economics. He received a traditional education that was typical for one of his family’s rank and status. He learned first at the hands of his father, who was a scholarly person, not involved in politics like his ancestors. He memorized the Qur’an by heart, learned grammar, jurisprudence, hadith, rhetoric, philology, and poetry. He reached a certain proficiency in these subjects and received certification in them. In his autobiography, he mentions the names of the scholars with whom he studied. Ibn Khaldun continued his studies until the age of nineteen, when the great plague swept over the lands from Samarkand to Mauritania. It was after this plague that Ibn Khaldun received his first public assignment, marking the start of his political career, and forever changing his life. 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.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. He analysed in detail the sources of error in historical writings, in particular partisanship, overconfidence in sources, failure to understand what is intended, a mistaken belief in the truth, the inability to place an event in its real context, the desire to gain the favour of those in high rank, exaggeration, and what he regarded as the most important of all, ignorance of the laws governing the transformation of human society.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:25:12 +0000