13 - 19 December 2001
Issue No.564
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 December 2001 Issue No.564 |
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Plain talk
It may have been the spirit of Ramadan, or feelings of guilt about not reading enough in Arabic in recent months. In either case, I found myself switching inadvertently from English to Arabic books. And happily my first choice fell on a book given to me by Amina, a young colleague of mine, last Christmas: Ibn Khaldoun's Muqadima, or "Introduction to History," an overview of the history of Arabs and Berbers.
Ibn Khaldoun (1332-1406) is regarded as the greatest Arab historian, and the first ever to develop a "scientific" method not based on religious doctrine. The Muqadima provides, among other things, the criteria by which historical fact should be distinguished from legend and mythology. This led Arnold Toynbee to describe his work as "undoubtedly the greatest of its kind... by any mind in any time or place." And Robert Flinch asserted that he "had no equal in any age or country... Plato, Aristotle and Augustine," he added, "were not his peers."
But Ibn Khaldoun went beyond history, inventing a hitherto undiscovered discipline he called Ilm Al- Umran, the science of society, which is thought to be the principal precursor to sociology. He defines this discipline as having "its own subject, which is human society, its problems and the social transformations that follow on one another, giving society its nature." In Book I of the Muqadima Ibn Khaldoun outlines a general sociology. In Books II and III, he discusses the sociology of politics; in Book IV that of urban life; in Book V he proposes a sociology of economics; and in Book VI one of knowledge.
Summing up this phenomenal work, one historian explains that, while "studded with brilliant observations on historiography, economics, politics and education," it is held together by the central concept of "social cohesion."
In Ibn Khaldoun's Philosophy of History, Muhsin Mahdi, a contemporary Iraqi American scholar, stresses how much Ibn Khaldoun's approach and concepts owe to classic Islamic theology and philosophy, especially to Averroes. Yet, Mahdi adds, nothing in any Arab, Greek or Latin author can explain Ibn Khaldoun's insight into social phenomena, "his firm grasp of the links binding the innumerable and apparently unrelated events that constitute the process of historical and social change." For Ibn Khaldoun's philosophy revolves around the notion that history is an endless cycle of growth and decay, with no evolution or progress except from primitive to civilised society.
Ibn Khaldoun, it is worth noting as an aside, loved Egypt, where he spent his later years and died. He was a great admirer of Cairo, describing it as "the garden of the world, the gathering place of nations, the palace of Islam, the seat of dominion," and adding famously, "He who has not seen it does not know the power of Islam." In Egypt he was appointed chief judge, performing his judicial duties conscientiously, guided "solely by the merits of each case." In the process he even attempted to introduce reforms with which to rectify the many errors and abuses that had crept into the administration of justice.
To round off this account of what has proved to be a delightful read, I shall endeavour to translate, or rather render freely in English, a quote from the Muqadima. "Know," writes the great man, "that the art of history is an art abundant in trends, of great value and noble aim, since it informs us about the conditions of past nations, and the life of prophets and the realms of kings and their politics. It is beneficial to those who wish to follow their example, for they are in need of the sources of knowledge, the skills and experiences therein included, that they might have foresight and avoid error. History enriches those who acquire this knowledge and equips them with truth, saving them from the pitfalls of misconceptio n and distortion."
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