Ibn Khaldun: biography of this philosopher and historian.

A summary of the life of Ibn Khaldun, Andalusian intellectual and pioneer of Sociology.

Ibn Khaldun was a Tunisian historian, sociologist, philosopher, economist, geographer and demographer born in the 14th century into an honorable family of Andalusian origin.

His life was marked by all kinds of intrigues and jealousies of the courtiers of the many Islamic kingdoms he frequented, giving advice and tutoring the decisions of sultans from all over North Africa.

Considered one of the great medieval Muslim thinkers, this intellectual is studied as a great reference in the history of Islam, sociology and Muslim philosophy. Here you will find a biography of Ibn Khaldun in abridged format.

Short biography of Ibn Khaldun

Known in English as Abenjaldun or Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Khaldun was a Tunisian historian of Andalusian origin. whose work, especially his "Prolegomena" has contributed not only to know the history of the medieval Islamic world but also to have a vision of sociology different from the classical Western one, besides being one of the few Muslim scholars who was motivated to write his own biography and describe how the environment influences human communities.

Ibn Khaldun's life was very busy, basically because as soon as he went to live in a new city, the local nobility would end up having a certain amount of envy for him, seeing how influential he became before the sultan, emir or monarch of his new place of residence. His life was marked by envy and palace intrigues, jealousy that led him on more than one occasion to exile, prison and deportation.

Early years

Ibn Khaldun, whose full name is Abū Zayd 'Abdu r-Raḥman bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn Al-Hadrami, was born on May 27, 1332 in the city Tunis. The data we have of his life we have thanks to the fact that he, as a historian, wrote his autobiography, a rather uncommon fact in his time, especially in the Arab world.

His family was noble, of Andalusian origin and had a very ancient lineage, originating from Hadramaut, a kingdom that existed in the Arab world.His ancestors had moved to the lands of Al-Andalus, going first to Carmona and then to Seville, but due to the Reconquest the Banu Khaldun family chose to emigrate to Ceuta and then Tunis, the city where Ibn Khaldun was born.

He spent his first years in the same city where he was born, where he received a careful education according to the important status of his family. His father served almost all his life in the court of the Hafsids of Tunis, a dynasty that ruled the city but not without important enemies.

The young Ibn Khaldun, in addition to the Koran and the Hadith under the tutelage of the most important scholars of the city, studied philosophy and social sciences, Arabic literature and the extensive life of the Prophet Muhammad, facts that would make him a prolific philosopher in his adulthood. These years would be very happy ones for the young man, enjoying the pleasures of good education and the privileged position of his family.

However, in the year 1349 at the age of 17 he saw misfortune stalk his land. His parents and his teachers would perish due to a plague epidemic that struck the city of Tunis, leaving him and his teachers to die.leaving him and his brothers Muhammad and Yahya orphans.

Political beginnings

Ibn Khaldun's political career began as a khatib, that is, the person who delivers the sermon during Friday prayers, in the service of Sultan Abu Ishaq, who had proclaimed himself as the restorer of the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia after a brief intermission in 1349 perpetrated by the enemy dynasty of the Benimerines.

After this event, a new stage in the life of the young Ibn Khaldun would begin, leading him to work in the service of the most important sultans of medieval Muslim Africa after Abu Ishaq. after Abu Ishaq. After this he left the city and lived in the fortress of Bejaia and from there he moved to the Merinid court of Fez, receiving a magnificent welcome from Sultan Abu Inan in 1354 where he would continue his studies and would be declared secretary of orders of the sultan.

However, his sudden ascent provoked envy in the palace, envy that caused him to be accused of maintaining contacts with Muhammad, the Hafsid prince who wanted to recover the power of several places conquered by the Benimerines. Because of this Ibn Khaldun and Prince Muhammad would end up being imprisoned and the young scholar would not be released until the death of Abu Inan in 1358. Fortunately, upon his release, all his honors were restored to him.

Ibn Khaldun wanted to return to his hometown, but was unable to obtain authorization to do so. However, life smiled on him a little and thanks to contacts with Aben Marzuk, who managed to enter the party of the pretender to the throne Abu Salem, brother of Abu Inan, who in 1359 had occupied the throne of Fez replacing the new monarch placed after the death of his brother.

At this time Ibn Khaldun was in charge of drafting all the new sultan's correspondence and, for a time, was able to greatly influence Abu Salem until Aben Marzuk rose in the court and monopolized all the attention of the ruler. It was also in the year 1359 that Ibn Khaldun collaborated with the king of Granada Muhammad V, of the Nasrid dynasty, who had been dethroned from his kingdom and had taken refuge in Fez.

Ibn Khaldun spoke with his sovereign to help the refugee king in whatever he needed to recover his Hispanic kingdom, which would happen a year later. This would be widely appreciated by Muhammad V, who would accept Ibn Khaldun at his court some time later.

Shortly before Abu Salem's death, Ibn Khaldun was appointed supreme judge to give justice. was appointed supreme judge to give justice to those who had received offenses from the more powerful and could not be judged by the ordinary courts.. When the sultan died, Ibn Khaldun saw the hostility that Omar ibn Abdallah, the wazir of the new sultan, had towards him, which made him decide to leave Fez and move to Spanish lands.

In Al-Andalus

In his trip to Al-Andalus he would pass through Ceuta and then Gibraltar in 1362, a route that his ancestors had traveled but in the opposite direction. It would not take him long to reach Granada, where Muhammad V would gladly accept him into his court and he would soon become his most faithful confidant.

The wazir of the king of Granada, Aben Aljathib, would be much friendlier than that of Fez, having a good relationship with Ibn Khaldun. The Granada sultan rewarded Ibn Khaldun with a farmhouse in Elvira, now Granada, where he resided for a time with Ibn Khaldun.where he resided for a time with his family that he had sent from Tunis.

This period would be prosperous for Ibn Khaldun since the king of Granada would entrust him with important diplomatic tasks, including traveling in 1363 to Seville to ratify a peace treaty with Pedro I of Castile, a monarch to whom Muhammad V was paying pariahs. Despite being an "enemy", Peter I saw in Ibn Khaldun a great scholar and, in fact, invited him to join his side after learning of the importance of his work. after learning of the importance that his ancestors had had in the Peninsula. The Arab scholar refused the offer, but Pedro I of Castile showered him with all kinds of gifts.

But just as had happened to him at the court of the Sultan of Fez, Ibn Khaldun would suffer the same fate in Granada. His influence with Muhammad V was growing enormously and in 1365 he was pressured to leave Spain when he learned that the wazir Aben Aljathib was already beginning to be jealous of him.. Although Muhammad V himself asked him to stay in his court, Ibn Khaldun traveled to Almeria and, after two weeks of travel, he arrived in Bejaia, where Muhammad himself of the Hafsid dynasty had just regained his power.

In the court of Muhammad of Bejaia he would receive the positions of chamberlain and preacher of the great mosque, in addition to teaching as a professor of jurisprudence. He would also have the opportunity to accompany Muhammad in some of his military battles, in one of which this Muslim monarch would lose his life in 1366. It would be then that Ibn Khaldun would receive the offer to take charge of the affairs of state and proclaim one of the sons of the previous monarch as the new sultan, an offer he would not accept.

Instead of accepting it immediately, the sage contacted the lord of Constantine and cousin of the late emir, Abu-l-Abbas, to whom he offered the government of Beja'ria. Although Abu-l-Abbas would take possession of the city and accept Ibn Khaldun at his court, the sage felt rejected and decided to move to Biskra and was welcomed by the lord there, Ahmed ibn Monzi.

In 1374 he traveled again to Granada, where he was at first received in a benevolent manner by his old friend Muhammad V. However, this monarch would receive reports from Fez that Ibn Khaldun was a very dangerous guest, so he ordered him to be imprisoned and finally expelled to Honain, near Tremecén, where he was not well received at first. However, Ibn Khaldun managed to gain the confidence of the lord of the city, who would eventually entrust him with diplomatic missions.

Return to Africa

Subsequently he retired to Calta Ben Salama, in Algeria, where he spent four years writing one of his most important works, "The Prolegomena" or "Muqaddimah".. In his autobiography he tells us that it was at this time that he suffered a serious illness but that, apparently, he was saved thanks to divine intervention, something that would give strength to his Muslim beliefs.

In 1378 he returned to Tunis where he was welcomed by the Sultan's court and, once again, he once again stood out and aroused the envy of the other courtiers. In fact, it would be one of his former disciples, called Ibn Arafa, who would dedicate numerous infamies to him, which made the court take a stand against Ibn Khaldun, something that motivated this philosopher to leave his hometown again and make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

He left Tunis at the end of 1382, arriving in December in Alexandria and shortly thereafter in Cairo.. There he had a good reputation and managed to win the affection of a group of disciples eager to receive his numerous teachings. He would again teach jurisprudence in one of the mosques of the city.

He tried to get his family to Egypt, but the request was denied by the Sultan of Tunis, who wanted to send him back at all costs. Eventually he managed to get his family to travel to their new residence but, unfortunately, misfortune struck him again. During the voyage, the ship in which his relatives were traveling was shipwrecked in a storm and they all perished in the sinking.. This caused tremendous Pain to the sage Ibn Khaldun, taking refuge in Islam and study as a way to channel his grief.

Final years

In 1400 Ibn Khaldun was part of the expedition initiated by the ruler of Cairo to fight against the expansion of Tamerlane, the Mongol leader, who was conquering many places in Cairo.who was conquering numerous places in Syria. On this journey Ibn Khaldun would be trapped in Damascus and, in fact, would meet Tamerlane in person. The Mongol conqueror was impressed by the knowledge of Ibn Khaldun, a sage who had no problem in showing him part of his work.

Ibn Khaldun managed to return to Cairo after his stay in Syria, being appointed in that city as grand cadi maliki of Egypt a few more times. This position, which he did not like very much, he would exercise until a short time later, when he died on March 19, 1406 at the age of 73.

His work and intellectual legacy

Ibn Khaldun was a scholar whose works have made a great contribution to the field of sociology and philosophy, although unfortunately they have not been published.Although unfortunately many of them have not been preserved, he was the author of numerous works of law, philosophy and philosophy. He was the author of numerous works on law, literature, religion and philosophy, although his work as a historian has been of enormous help in understanding the history of Islamic countries and his medieval vision on this subject.

Kitab al-Ibar

This thinker left a meticulous genealogy of the Muslim dynasties of North Africa known as "Kitab al-Ibar" or "Universal History", a work of great importance for understanding the Islamic monarchies of the Middle Ages that consisted of seven volumes.This work of great importance for understanding the Islamic monarchies of the Middle Ages consisted of seven volumes, although it was only the first volume that would make him famous: "Muqaddimah" or "Prolegomena". Such has been the repercussion of this first volume that for two centuries it has been published separately from the rest of the work, basically because in this part Ibn Khaldun condenses all his thought.

This part of the work could be defined as an introduction to the work of the historian, who had created an encyclopedia in which he synthesized the methodological and cultural knowledge necessary to describe history based on scientific criteria. Performs a complex analysis of society, seeking to understand the foundations of social behavior and how historical development occurs.. It is really a great work under a sociological perspective.

This part is divided into six chapters. In the first he talks about society, the physical world where communities live and how the environment influences them. In the second he talks about the more rural and simple societies. In the third, he analyzes the ways in which governments and states apply their laws, using different types of institutions and controlling human communities. In the fourth, he delves into urban and more developed societies. In the fifth he discusses humanity in general and in the last he discusses ways to transmit culture and the arts.

Bibliographical references:

• Pons-Boigues, F (1898) Ensayo bio-bibliográfico sobre los historiadores y biógrafos arábigo-españoles. Madrid.
• Saade, I (1973) The religious thought of Ibn Khaldun. Madrid.
• Saade, I (1969) How Ibn Khaldun judges Christianity. Salamanca.
• Moraleda-Tejero, J. M (n. d.) Jaldún, Ibn o Abenjaldún (1332-1406). The web of biographies.