Ibn Khaldun: Life and TimesIbn Khaldun (d. 1406) is one of the most influential and important Muslim thinkers in history. Ibn Khaldun has inspired at least as much interest among modern scholars as his immediate contemporaries. Legions of sociologists, anthropologists and historians have studied his philosophy of history, treating the Muqaddimah as a timeless piece of philosophy. Most studies of Ibn Khaldun ignore the fascinating story his own life and times. Rejecting portrayals of Ibn Khaldun as a modern mind lost in medieval obscurity, Ibn Khaldun: Life and Times - newly available in paperback - demonstrates how Ibn Khaldun's ideas were shaped by his historical context and personal motivations. Relying on original Arabic sources, most importantly Ibn Khaldun's unique autobiography, this is the first complete, scholarly biography of Ibn Khaldun in English. While previous studies dismissed Ibn Khaldun's autobiography as lacking in psychological depth, Ibn Khaldun: Life and Times challenges this view. Demonstrating the rich and complex nature of Ibn Khaldun's memoirs, Ibn Khaldun: Life and Times not only tells the life story of Ibn Khaldun in an accessible way, it also introduces readers to the fourteenth-century Mediterranean world. Seen in the context of a politically tumultuous and religiously contentious fourteenth century Mediterranean, Ibn Khaldun's ideas about tribalism, identity, religion and history are even more relevant to pressing, modern concerns. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Chapter 2 Ibn Khalduns Early Life | 39 |
Chapter 3 Ibn Khaldun the Statesman | 60 |
Chapter 4 Egypt | 97 |
Chapter 5 Ibn Khalduns Method | 114 |
Chapter 6 Modernity | 149 |
Chapter 7 On Being Ibn Khaldun | 165 |
| 177 | |
| 183 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbasid Abd al-Aziz Abu Abd Allah Abu al-Abbas Abu al-Hasan Abu Hammu Abu Inan Abu Madyan According to Ibn Al-Abili Al-Andalus Al-Tarif Almohad Almohad Caliphs Almoravid ancestors Andalusi Arab Banu Hilal Banu Marin Barquq Bedouin Berber Berber tribes Bijaya Biskra Bourguiba Cairo caliph Christian civilization conquest context court culture Dawawida dynasties empire European fact fourteenth century Hafsid historian human Ibn al-Khatib Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun claimed Ibn Khaldun described Ibn Khaldun saw Ibn Khaldun seemed Ibn Khaldun's autobiography Ibn Khaldun's description Ibn Zamrak important inspired intellectual Islamic world Kitab Livre des Exemples madrasas Maghrib Mahdi Maliki Mamluk Mamluk Egypt Marinid medieval Islamic Mediterranean Middle East minister modern Mongol Muhammad Muqaddimah Muslim mystical North Africa Ottoman Pedro philosophical plague political Prophet Qadi religious Rosenthal rulers scholar Seville social society Sufi Sufism sultan teachers Tilimsan Timurlane tion trade tribal solidarity Tunis Tunisian urban Western writing Yahya Zayyanid