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Ibn Khaldun ( Tunis, 1332 - Cairo, 1406) is widely acclaimed as a forerunner of modern historiography, sociology and economics. He is best known for his Muqaddimah (Prolegomena). Generally known as Ibn Khaldun after a remote ancestor, he was born in Tunis in 732 A.H. (1332 C.E.) to an upper class family that had migrated from Seville in Muslim Spain. His ancestors were Yemeni Arabs who settled in Spain in the very beginning of Muslim rule in the eighth century, but after the fall of Seville, had migrated to Tunisia. In his history, he describes his family, the Banu Khaldun , as follows:
However, a few biographers (eg., Mohammad Enan) question his claim, suggesting that his family may have been BerberThe Berbers (also called Amazigh "free men", pl. Imazighen are the indigenous inhabitants of the Maghreb, a predominantly Caucasoid, predominantly Muslim ethnic group living in northern Africa. They speak the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family.s who pretended to Arab origin in order to gain social status. One website - Salaam.co.uk - claims, without giving any sources, that this ancestry was through his mother and that his father was "a native of Berber" (sic), although this contradicts Ibn Khaldun's own words, since he traces his genealogy back to Khaldun through his father's side:
Ibn Khaldun studied the various branches of Arabic learning with great success. In 1352 he obtained employment under the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Fares I at Fez. In the beginning of 1356, his integrity having been suspected, he was thrown into prison until the death of Abu Inan in 1358, when the vizier al-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 Ibrahim III, Abu Inan's successor, but, having offended the prime minister, he obtained permission to emigrate to SpainThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc. Ibn al Ahmar, who had been greatly indebted to his good offices when an exile at the court of Abu Salem, received Ibn Khaldun with great cordiality at GranadaThis article is about Granada in Spain. For alternate meanings see Granada (disambiguation). The City of Granada Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in Andalusia, Spain Andalucia, Espana . As of the 2003 census, the population of. The favours he received from the sovereign excited the jealousy of the vizier, and he was driven back to Africa (1364), where the Hafsid sultan of Bougie, Abu Abdallah, who had been formerly his companion in prison, received him with great cordiality.
On the fall of Abu Abdallah, Ibn Khaldun raised a large force amongst the desert Arabs, and entered the service of the sultan of Tlemcen. A few years later he was taken prisoner by Abdalaziz (Abd ul Aziz), who had defeated the sultan of Tlemcen and seized the throne. He then entered a monastic establishment, and occupied himself with scholastic duties, until in 1370 he was sent for to Tlemcen by the new sultan.
After the death of Abd ul Aziz he resided at Fez, enjoying the patronage and confidence of the regent. In 1375, he took refuge among the Awlad Arif tribe of central Algeria, in the town of Qalat Ibn Salama ; there he took advantage of his seclusion to write the Muqaddimah (or "Introduction", to his subsequent history.) In 1378, he entered the service of the sultan of his native town of Tunis, where he devoted himself almost exclusively to his studies and wrote his history of the Berbers.
Having received permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, he reached Cairo, where he was presented to the sultan al-Malik udh-Dhahir Barkuk, who insisted on his remaining there, and in the year 1384 made him grand cadi of the Maliki school of fiqh or religious law for Cairo. This office he filled with great prudence and probity, removing many abuses in the administration of justice in Egypt.
At this time the ship in which his wife and family, with all his property, were coming to join him, was wrecked, and every one on board lost. He endeavoured to find consolation in the completion of his history of the Arabs of Spain. At the same time he was removed from his office of cadi, which gave him more leisure for his work.
Three years later he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and on his return lived in retirement in the Fayyum until 1399, when he was again called upon to resume his functions as cadi. He was removed and reinstated in the office no fewer than five times. He died on March 17, 1406, and was buried in Cairo.
He also wrote historical narratives based on the accounts of Timur, the Mongol leader.