Ibn Khaldun
(Abu Al Rahman Ibn Mohammad)
(1332-1395 A D)

        Abd Al Rahman Ibn Mohammad, known as Ibn Khaldun, was born in 1332 AD to Yemenite Arab parents who had migrated to Tunisia from muslim Spain to escape the inspection courts that were set following the fall of Seville. In Tunisia he received his early education and while still in his teens he entered the service of the Egyptian ruler, Sultan Barquq. This he soon left for Fez in Morocco in the hope of finding a more learned environment.
      A long period of political unrest followed during which he took refuge for three years in a small Algerian village Qalat Ibn Salama and wrote his famous book Muqaddimah or ‘Prolego-mena’, an analysis of historical events as a preface to his world history that in its own right became a masterpiece of literature, identifying and analysing psychological, economic, environmental and social factors that had contributed to the advancement of human civilisation. He suggested that these factors contributed to an almost rhythmic cycle of rise and fall of civilisations and by doing so he laid the foundations of studies known now as sociology (Umraniyat). In the process he debunked the study of astrology, very much in vogue at that time, and refused to accept that the obvious influence of the sun and the moon on the natural environment could be extra-polated to fore-telling the future by the stars.
     The uncertainty of his career continued and he spent his last 24 years in Egypt where he was famous and respected, lecturing at the Al Azhar University and being appointed Chief Malakite Judge although envy caused his removal from high judicial office five times. He continued his writings during this period and the later volumes of his world history, Kitab Al I’bar dealt with the history of Arabs, contemporary Muslim rulers, contemporary European rulers, the history of Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, etc., Islamic History, Egyptian his-tory and North African history, especially that of Berbers and tribes living in the adjoining areas. His final volume, Al Tasrif, was autobiographical. His book on mathematics is no longer in existence.
    Ibn Khaldun’s books have been translated into many languages and continue to have a strong influence on the development and studies of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and education, even being considered superior in scholarship to Machiavelli’s The Prince written a century later.

                                                                                                                                                                 Editor-in-Chief