Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography.

• Author: Zatari, Fadi
• Position: Book review

Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography

By Robert Irwin

Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2018, 272 pages. $29.95, ISBN: 9780691174662

The Muqaddima (Prolegomena) is the main work that made Ibn Khal-dun (1332-1406) eminent not only in historiography, civilization studies, anthropology, and sociology, but also in philosophy, economy, demography, and other fields of study. Robert Irwin's work on Ibn Khaldun contains a preface and eleven chapters, as well as a chronology of Ibn Khaldun's life.

Irwin begins his preface by citing several statements and acknowledgments about the greatness and significance of Ibn Khaldun and his works by such historians as Arnold Toynbee, Hugh Trevor-Roper, and Marshall Hodgson, who described the Muqaddima as "the greatest wide-ranging introduction to Islamic civilization." Additionally, Irwin cites philosophers and sociologists such as Ernest Gellner, who thought that Ibn Khaldun was "a superb inductive sociologist, a practitioner, long before the term was invented, of the methods of ideal types" (p. ix). Also in the preface, Irwin puts forth an outline of the Muqaddima and its main questions, arguing that it offers a very distinctive perspective not only for understanding societies, and their histories, but also for viewing the world.

In the first chapter, titled "Ibn Khaldun among the Ruins," Irwin illuminates the Arabic word ibra, which indicates admonition, example, advice, or positive guidance. The depth of meaning in this term seems to be the reason that informed Ibn Khaldun's decision to entitle his book Kitab al-'ibar. Ruins may be seen as messages to humankind or food for contemplation. They indicate not only that life is inconsequential and transient, but also that wealth and power do not help when death approaches; in essence they are a source of ibra. Irwin suggests that the Muqaddima has to be read according to the notions of ibar (pl. of ibra) and ruins.

The second chapter, "The Game of Thrones in Fourteenth-Century North Africa," explores the life of Ibn Khaldun and how he had held various professions, such as administrator, courtier, and the influential post of hajib (the one who manages the palace, controls access to the ruler, and maintains his security). Ibn Khaldun was also involved in politics which was made apparent when, for instance, he conspired with others to change rulers. This was demonstrated when 'Abd Allah Muhammad succeeded in reinstalling himself as a ruler through the...