Ibn-e-Kaldoon

 The Subject of Ibn-e-Khaldoon’s study was al’ ijtima ‘al-insani i.e human association.
 Although largely unaware of Aristotle’s work he developed his own updated version of
Aristotelian method of study of society as a whole
 The analytical empirical method of classifying things which Aristotle used to study states
but ibn e khaldoon used this method to the study of human civilisation on a much wider
sense than Aristotle although he didn’t knew about the exact method to apply the
analytical empirical method but he developed his own way to do it.
 His focus was the history of berbers and arabs in the maghrib
 His idea was to distinguish between the false and the true reports and he used history
and behaviour of human society to do it
 Used Aristotelian method to understand the past which made casual verification
possible and not only “how” but “why” it happened
 He distinguished between human societies as badwa, dawla and hadra
 Two driving forces in human history; asabiya and mulk
 Three possible types of regimes;
1. Natural dominion
2. Devised by men of intelligence and insight
3. Laid down by god and promulgated by an inspired lawgiver.

 The ruler is an institution supported by soldiers

 Islamic and non-Islamic forms of authority
 Ibn Kahldoon accepts that the caliphate established by prophet became subject to socio
political decay.
 The duty of sustaining the sharia falls upon the ulama
 Ibn Khaldun constructed a general theory to explain social and political change using a
wide range of historical and contemporary data from the Islamic world. His theory of
history is neither cyclical nor evolutionary, but wave-like: the rise and decline of
dynasties repeats itself again and again, driven by the same basic forces.
 His social actors (badawa, dawla, hadara and so on) were constructed through analysis
of empirical data, and perceived as social forces which underlie, and therefore explain,
events.
 Ibn Khaldun’s greatest contribution was surely the dialectic between badawa and
hadara.
 badawa lost much of its force in the Muslim world after the reservoir of pre-urban
peoples dried up following the Mongol invasions. (Ibn Khaldun may in this respect be an
example of the owl of knowledge singing as dusk is falling.)
  Ever since he was re-discovered in the early nineteenth century by European scholars,
Ibn Khaldun has been recognised as one of the greatest anthropologists and sociologists
of all time
 He came out of nowhere and went nowhere. Anthropology and sociology had to be
reinvented in the European Enlightenment.

Questions to answer
1. How can Ibn-e-Khaldoon’s theory of distinguishing between false and true reports
using history and human association be applied in today’s world?
2. How are the three possible types of regimes evolved through history till
contemporary times?
3. Is the concept of social actors being badwa, hadra and dawla void in today’s world or
has it taken some modern form in 21st century human association?
4. How is Ibn-e-Kahldoon an owl of knowledge singing when dusk is falling?