‘Abdu-r-Rahman
Wali'ud-din Muhammad ibn Khaldun
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The
founder of the social sciences and the greatest Muslim historian,
‘Abdu-r-Rahman Wali'ud-din Muhammad ibn Khaldun,
was born in Tunisia on 27 May 1332. His forefathers had migrated
from Hadramawt to Seville (in Spain ) in the ninth century
AD and were employed by their rulers as statesmen and administrators
over almost four centuries. In the thirteenth century his
family was one of the ruling families of Seville. Before the
end or the century Seville had been occupied by Christians,
and his family had to immigrate to Tunis like most of the
other noble families.
His
father was a prominent scholar of Islam and so he received
his primary education from his father and from other qualified
and learned scholars of Islam. From his boyhood his sharp
intelligence and philosophical ideas attracted attention.
When he was twenty, he was appointed by the Sultan of Fes
as his private secretary. Through his service, position and
status at the court of the Sultan he became very rich and
famous in a very short time, but he fell out of favour and
ended up in prison.
He
somehow managed to escape from prison and went to Granada
to seek asylum under its Sultan, Muhammad. There he was accepted
with great honour by the famous historian and politician of
Spain, Ibn al-Khatib (1313-74). Ibn al-Khatib was simultaneously
a great historian, philosopher, geographer and poet. He wrote
more than sixty books, twenty of which are still available.
By courtesy of Ibn al-Khatib, Ibn Khaldun became a favourite
of the Sultan who gave him the position of State Ambassador
and sent him to King Pedro of Castille to draw up a special
treaty with the King. King Pedro, seeing his political acumen
and diplomatic expertise, asked him to become a Minister in
his kingdom, but Ibn Khaldun politely refused the offer.
After
having stayed two years in Granada, he went back to North
Africa and was involved in solving several political problems
and undertook various assignments in the states of North Africa
over a period of about ten years from 1364 to 1374. However,
despite his untiring efforts, he failed to bring about peace
among the small African states and in the end decided to spend
a solitary life in a fort in Oran. Here for four years he
devoted himself with all his heart to researches on history,
planned his seminal book of world history and wrote a material
for this book, he roamed from place to place, from library
to library and from institution to institution. At last he
went to the Zaytun University of Tunis in 1380 and stayed
there to complete the writing of his famous Muqaddima.
After
two years, he went to Egypt on his way to Makka to perform
hajj. In Egypt, Sultan ‘Ali Zahir (1382-1398) received him
with great honour and appointed him as principal of the famous
Al-Azhar University. After two years he was appointed the
Chief Justice of the Maliki madh-hab court. As a justice,
he introduced several improvements and amendments in Maliki
law, but he had to face severe criticism from several quarters.
His opponents even held a court of inquiry against him, but
they could not establish any charge. At this time his family
was shipwrecked and drowned at sea while coming from Tunis
to Cairo. He lost all his children, wife and other relations,
and this loss was a very cruel blow to him. He resigned from
service and from the world and devoted himself to the worship
of Allah. After three years he went to Makka to perform the
hajj and then he returned to Cairo to dedicate himself to
writing. By 1392 the writing of his famous World History was
complete.
Ibn
Khaldun became famous as the father of social science. His
great book, The History of the World, particularly its Muqaddima,
is not only a unique contribution to historical works, but
a new chapter and illumination in the world of letters as
a whole. His travels from Seville to Samarqand and his experience
of administration and politics under different kings and sultans,
his important diplomatic assignments to several countries,
and above all his persuasive qualities demonstrated by deterring
the Tartar Timur from launching an invasion which would have
meant the almost certain destruction of Egypt, Syria and other
countries, speak of his great personality, acumen and keen
intelligence.
The
fundamental discovery of the gradual development of human
society and judging all events of history according to that
discovery is the philosophy of history that Ibn Khaldun propounded.
And according to Toynbee this was the greatest contribution
of Ibn Khaldun. In the world of economics, knowledge and science
he had unprecedented influence. He used to place belief above
philosophy. What is not understood by naked reasoning or argumentation
is sure to be understood by belief in Allah and in the Hereafter.
He discussed this point in great length in one of his original
essays, and something of this has also been discussed in his
Muqaddima.
When
evaluating Ibn Khaldun we must remember that, while sitting
in a palace in North Africa five hundred years ago, he contributed
to the world of history and to the world as a whole a knowledge
and a direction upon which all later historians based themselves.
So he is, in truth, the father of the science of history.
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TOOTH
EXTRACTION
A grumpy old man from Pretoria phones a dentist to enquire
about the cost for a tooth extraction.
"R85
for an extraction, sir" the dentist replied. "R85!!!
Didn't you got anyfink cheaper?"
"That's the normal charge," said the dentist.
"What about if you jus didn't like use any anaesthetic?"
"That's unusual, sir, but I could do it and knock R15
off.
"What about if you jus use one of your dentist trainees
and still Wiffout an a naesthetic?"
"I can't guarantee their professionalism and it'll be
painful. But the Price could drop to R40".
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of your students can like to do the extraction wiff the other
students watching and Learning?"
"It'll be good for the students", mulled the dentist.
"and it's going to be very traumatic, but I'll charge
you R5."
"Now you talking broer! It's a deal," said the Afrikaner.
"Can you confirm a appointment for my wife next Tuesday
then?" |