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Introductory material
Introductory material of Book One,
Kitab al 'Ibar
Preliminary Remarks
Chapter I |
Human
civilization in general |
Chapter II |
Bedouin
civilization, savage nations and tribes and their conditions of
life, including several basic and explanatory statements
1 |
Both Bedouins and sedentary people are
natural groups |
2 |
The Arabs are a natural group in the
world |
3 |
Bedouins are prior to sedentary people.
The desert is the basis and reservoir of civilization and
cities |
4 |
Bedouins are closer to being good than
sedentary people |
5 |
Bedouins are more disposed to courage
than sedentary people |
6 |
The reliance of sedentary people upon
laws destroys their fortitude and power of resist |
7 |
Only tribes held together by group
feeling can live in the desert |
8 |
Group feeling result's only Porn blood
relationship or something corresponding to it |
9 |
Purity of lineage is found only among the
savage Arabs of the
desert and other such people |
10 |
How lineages become confused |
11 |
Leadership over people who share in a
given group feeling can
not be vested in those not of the same
descent |
12 |
Only those who share in the group feeling
of a group can have a "house" and nobility in the basic
sense and in reality, while others have it
only in a metaphorical and figurative
sense |
13 |
"House" and nobility come to clients and
followers only through
their masters and not through their own
descent |
14 |
Prestige lasts at best four generations
in one lineage |
15 |
Savage nations are better able to achieve
superiority than others |
16 |
The goal to which group feeling leads is
royal authority |
17 |
Obstacles on the way toward royal
authority are luxury and the submergence of the tribe in
a life of prosperity |
18 |
Meekness and docility to outsiders that
may come to be found in
a tribe are obstacles on the way toward
royal authority |
19 |
A sign of the qualification of an
individual for royal authority
is his eager desire to acquire
praiseworthy qualities, and vice versa |
20 |
While a nation is savage, its royal
authority extends farther |
21 |
As long as a
nation retains its group feeling, royal authority that
disappears in one branch will, of necessity, pass to
some other branch
of the same nation |
22 |
The vanquished
always want to imitate the victor in his distinctive
mark(s), his dress, his occupation, and all his other
conditions
and customs |
23 |
A nation that has been defeated and come
under the rule of another
nation will quickly perish |
24 |
Arabs can gain control only over fat
territory |
25 |
Places that succumb to the Arabs are
quickly ruined |
26 |
Arabs can obtain
royal authority only by making use of some religious
coloring, such as prophecy, or sainthood, or some great
religious
event in general |
27 |
The Arabs are of all nations the one most
remote from royal leadership |
28 |
Desert tribes and groups are dominated by
the urban population |
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Chapter III |
On dynasties, royal authority,
the caliphate, government ranks, and all that goes with these
things. The chapter contains basic and supplementary propositions |
Chapter IV |
Countries and cities, and all other forms of sedentary
civilization. The conditions occurring there. Primary and
secondary considerations in this connection |
Chapter V |
On the
various aspects of making a living, such as profit and the
crafts. The conditions that occur in this connection. A number
of problems are connected with this subject |
Chapter VI |
The various
kinds of sciences. The methods of instruction. The conditions
that obtain in these connections. The chapter includes a
prefatory discussion and appendices |
Concluding Remarks
Selected Bibliography,
Walter J. Fischel
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