IBN KHALDOUN (IBN KHALDUN) (1332-1406), a celebrated Arabic historian, poet, and philosopher, was born at Tunis on the 1st Ramadhan 732 A.H. (February 8, 1332). His name was AbuZeid Abdarrahamn, that of Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldun] being a patronymic derived from an ancestor Khaldoun ibn Othman, who came over with a band of Arab warriors and settled at Carmona in Spain. The family afterwards established itself in Seville, which it quitted for Tunis on the approach of Ferdinand III.

Statue of Ibn Khaldoun in Tunis, Tunisia

Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldun] at an early age applied himself to the study of the various branches of Arabic learning with very great success, and entered the employment of the sultan as private secretary at the age of twenty-one.

Not believing, however, in the stability of his master’s throne, he soon afterwards took refuge with and obtained employment under the Merinide sultan Abu Einan at Fez. In the beginning of the year 1356, his integrity having been suspected, he was thrown into prison until the death of Abu Einan in 1358, when the vizier El Hasan ibn Omar set him at liberty, and reinstated him in his rank and offices.





He here continued to render great service to Abu Salem, Abu Einan’s successor, but, having offended the prime minister, his position became less pleasant at court, and he sought and obtained permission to emigrate to Spain, where, at Granada, he was received with great cordiality by Ibn el Ahmer, who had been greatly indebted to his good offices when an exile at the court of Abu Salem.

The favors and honors he received from the sovereign soon, however, excited the jealousy of the vizier, and he was driven back to Africa, where he was received with great cordiality by the sultan of Bujaiye, Abu Abdallah, who had been formerly his companion in prison.

Jealousies and intrigues again drove him forth, this time to take refuge with the lord of Biskera, Ahmed ibn el Mozni. In answer to an appeal from the sultan of Tlemcen Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldun] raised a large force amongst the desert Arabs of the district, and passed over to the service of that prince.

A few years later her was taken prisoner by Abd el Aziz, who had defeated the sultan of Tlemcen and seized upon the throne. He then entered a monastic establishment and occupied himself with scholastic duties, until in the year 1370 he was sent for to Tlemcen by the new sultan, Abd el Aziz.

After the death of Abd el Aziz he resided at Fez, enjoying the patronage and confidence of the regent. After some further vicissitudes he entered the service of the sultan of his native town of Tunis, where he devoted himself almost exclusively to his studies.

Having received permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, he set out and reached Cairo, where his reputation had already preceded him, and was presented to the sultan, El Melek ed Dhaher Berkouk, who insisted on his remaining there, and in the year 1384 promoted him to the high rank of grand cadi of the Malekite rite for Cairo. This office he filled with great prudence and probity, and succeeded in removing a mass of abuses with which the administration of justice in Egypt was overgrown.

A terrible misfortune now fell upon him; the ship in which his wife and family, with all his property, were coming to join him, was shipwrecked, and every one on board lost. He endeavored to find consolation in fresh devotion to his studies, and to the completion of his great work the "History of the Arabs of Spain", in which he had long been engaged. At the same time he was removed from his office of cadi, which gave him still more leisure for his work. Three years later he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and on his return lived in strict retirement at the village of Faiyoum until 1399, when he was again called upon to resume his functions as cadi. He was removed and reinstated in the office on less than five times.





In the month of Rabia I. 803 A.H. (October to November 1400 A.D.), he was sent to Damascus, in connection with the expedition intended to oppose the celebrated Timur or Tamerlane. When Timur had become master of the situation, Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldun] let himself down from the walls of the city by a rope, and presented himself before the conqueror, who charmed with his dignified appearance and his learned discourse, permitted him to return to Egypt. Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldun] died on the 25th Ramadhan 808 A.H. (16th march 1406), at the age of sixty-four.

The great work by which he is know is a "Universal History," but it deals more particularly with the history of the Arabs of Spain and Africa. Its Arabic title is Kitab el ‘Iber, wa diwan el Mubtada wa ‘l Lhaber, fi auyan el ‘Arab wa ‘l’Ajam wa’l Berber; that is, "The Book of Examples and the Collection of Origins and Information respecting the History of the Arabs, Foreigners, and Berbers."

It consists of three books, an introduction, and an autobiography. Book i. treats of the influence of civilization upon man; book ii. of the history of the Arabs and other peoples from the remotest antiquity until the author’s own times; book iii. of the history of the Berber tribes and of the kingdoms founded by that race in North Africa.

The introduction is an elaborate treatise on the science of history and the development of society, and the autobiography contains the history, not only of the author himself, but of his family and of the dynasties which ruled in Fez, Tunis, and Tlemcen during his lifetime.

An admirable edition of the Arabic text has been printedat Boulak (Cairo), and a part of the work has been translated by the late Baron de Slane under the title of Histoire des Berberes (Algiers, 1852-56); it contains an admirable account of the author and analysis of his work. (E. H. P.)



The above article was written by Edward Henry Palmer, M.A., late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, 1871-81; murdered in Egypt, 1882, while serving on Government secret service; author of Arabic Grammar and Persian Dictionary.