|
|
|
87 |
See 2:124, below. In the colophon at the end of
Ch. in, A speaks of the "end of the first half of the
Muqaddimah," and in the
colophon at the end of
Ch. iv,
D speaks of
the chapter as the "fourth chapter of the
muqaddimah of the
History." See
also p. 10, 1. 11, below. |
|
88 |
See p. cv, below. |
|
89 |
For opinions on the style and language of the
Muqaddimah,
see also p. cxi, below. |
|
90 |
Cf. F. Rosenthal, The
Technique and Approach of Muslim Scholarship
(Analecta Orientalia, No. 24) (Rome, 1947), pp.
37 ff. |
|
91 |
See 2:139 ff., below. |
|
92 |
Cf. Autobiography, p.
373; W. J. Fischel, Ibn Khaldun and
Tamerlane, pp. 37
f. |
|
93 |
See 3:183, below. |
|
94 |
See 2:187 ff., below. |
|
95 |
See, for instance, nn. 110, 1489, and 1502 to Ch.
vi, below. |
|
96 |
Cf. Ptolemy
Tetrabiblos [Quadripartitum]
ii. 2; ed. and tr. F. E. Robbins (Loeb Classical Library)
(Cambridge, Mass. & London, 1940), pp. 120
f. A. von Kremer, "Ibn
Chaldun and seine Kulturgeschichte der islamischen Reiche," in
Sitzungs-Berichte der k..4kademie der
Wissenschaften zu Wien, XCIII (1879),
589 ff., referred to al-Jahiz,
in this connection.
Cf. also alKindi,
Fi l-ibanah 'an al-'illah al fd'ilah al-qarlbah
li-I-kawn wa-l fasdd, ed. M. 'A. Abu
Ridah in Rasa'il al-Kinds aI falsafiyah
(Cairo, 136911950), 1, 224
ff.
From a later period one may, for instance,
compare Rashid-ad-din, Ta'rikh al-Ghazani
(photostat of
an Istanbul MS in the Egyptian Library
in Cairo, ta'rikh
1889, p. 41): "In each zone there must be people
who dwell in towns and people who dwell in deserts
off by themselves,
especially in countries where there are gardens and meadows and
much water and splendid pastures and where there is no equal
distribution of
cultivated areas ('imarat)." |
|
97 |
Cf. Ibn Abi Zayd,
Risalah, ed.
L. Bercher (Bibliotheque arabe-frangaise) (3d ed.; Algiers,
1949), pp. 320 fr. Two of
Ibn Khaldun's early teachers, al-Widiyashi and
Ibn 'Abd-as-Sal£m, taught him the
Risalah; cf. as-Sakhawi,
a l-Daw' al-ldml', IX, 241. |
|
98 |
See p. 79 and
2:417, below. |
|
99 |
A Malikite scholar of northwestern Africa, al-Qabisi,
quotes the seventh-century Ibn Masud as saying, "Men need three
things: (1) a ruler to decide their differences, for without
one, each would eat the other...." Cf. A. F. al-Ahwini, at-Ta'lim
fi ray al-Qdbisi (Cairo, 1364/1945), p. 270. |
|
100 |
Cf. M. Horten, Die Metaphysik Avicennas (Halle
& New York, 1907), pp. 673 f., for the Kitab ash-Sh'fa';
and Avicenna, Kitab an-N'ajah (Rome, 1593), p. 84. For
references from Greek and Arabic literature in this connection,
see D. Santillana, Istituzioni di diritto musulmano malichita
(Rome, [19261-38), I, 10 (n. 57). A brief statement by Ibn
Taymiyah along the same lines, from his hisbah fi l-Islam
(Cairo, 1318/1900-1901), p. 3, was also quoted in connection
with Ibn Khaldun by H. A. R. Gibb, "The Islamic Background of
Ibn Khaldun's Political Theory," in
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, VII
(1933), 23-31. |
|
101 |
As-Shahrazuri, ash-Shajarah al-ilahiyah,
quoted from the Istanbul MS, Topkapusaray, Ahmet III, 3227, fol.
501a. |
|
102 |
Cf. Majd-ad-din Ibn
al-Athir, .Nihayah (Cairo, 1329/1904), IV, 221;
Lisan al-'Arab (Bulaq,
1300-1308/1882-90), X, 270. Another of the traditions quoted in these
works reads: "The restraining influence of the government is more
widely effective than that of the Qur'an." Ascribed to the caliph 'Uthmin, this remark appears as early as the
ninth-century Kitab al-Kuttab
of 'Abdallah al-Baghdadi, ed. D. Sourdel in
Bulletin d'Etudes Orientales
(Damascus), XIV (1954), 142.
Its application to political theory was discussed in the
tenth century by Muhammad b. Yusuf al-'Amid in his
I'lam bi-manaqib al-Islam (MS,
Istanbul, Ragib 1463, fol. 18b). Cf. The Islamic Quarterly,
III
(1966), 51.
In the
work of a Spanish author known to Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Bassam, the remark is
ascribed to al-hasan b. Abi 1-Hasan al-Bagri (d.
ca. 728).
Cf. his Dhakhirah
(Cairo, 1361/1942), 12, 9. The waza'ah (pl.
of wazi')
function as a kind of truant officers sent after
mischievous boys in a story from the Kitab al-Aghani
(Bulaq, 1285/1868), XVIII, 124. Cf. also ash-Sharishi,
Sharh al-Magdmdt (Cairo 1306/1889), I, 143.
For the person who has
the restraining influence in himself, earlier authors did not use the
root wz' but similar roots such as
w'z
and
zjr; cf.
al-Jahiz,
Bukhala"
(Cairo, 1948),
p. 173;
tr. C.
Pellat (Beirut & Paris, 1951), p. 274;
and al-Mawardi,
al-Ahkam as-sullaniyah
(Cairo,
1298/1881),
Ch. xvi, p. 180.
Al-Miwardi says that
scholars have a restraining influence in themselves
(zajir min nafsihi)
which
prevents them from sitting down in seats belonging to more distinguished
and deserving scholars. According to a tradition quoted by al-Ghazzali,
Ihya"
(Cairo,
1352/1933),
III, 10, the possession of a restraining influence in
one's heart
(wa'iz min qalbihi) is
a gift of God.
Zdjir min
nafsihi,
in connection with teachers, is also used by Ibn Khaldun,
p. 452,
1. 12,
below.
|
|
103 |
There has been
considerable discussion among modern scholars as to the meaning
of 'asabiyah. We may mention
here only F. Gabrieli, "Il concetto della 'alabiyyah nel pensiero
storico di Ibn Ualdun," in Atti della R. Accademia delle scienze di Torino, Classe di scienze
morali, storiche e filologiche,LXV
(1930), 473-512; and, most recently, H. Ritter,
"Irrational Solidarity Groups, a Socio-Psychological Study in Connection
with Ibn Khaldun," in Oriens, I
(1948), 1-44. |
|
104 |
Cf. Lisan
al-'Arab,
II,
96. |
|
105 |
See p. 263, below, and F. Gabrieli, p. 474 (n. 1). |
|
106 |
The historian at-Tabari also uses the term in the
meaning of "tribal
unrest." Cf. his
Annales, ed.
M. J. de Goeje
et al. (Leiden, 1879-1901),
III, 624; Glossary, p. ccclxiv. |
|
107 |
Ibar,
III, 3. See
also pp. 414 f.,
below |
|
108 |
Cf. 'Ibar, V, 237,
following Ibn al-Athir, Kamil
(Cairo, 1302/1885), XI, 49, anno
541. |
|
109 |
Ibn al-Khatib, al-Ihatah, I,
7, and cf. also I, 100. A similar
application of 'asabiyah is
found in al-Mubashshir, Mukhtar
al-hikam (Madrid, 1958), p. 41. Cf. F.
Rosenthal, "Arabische Nachrichten uber Zenon den Eleaten," in
Orientalia, N.S.
VI (1937), 33 f. Further examples
of 'asabiyah in connection with
praiseworthy aspirations are found in Yaqut,
Irshad, ed. Margoliouth (E. J. W. Gibb
Memorial Series, No. 6) (Leiden & London, 1907-27), I, 77; 11, 157;
(Cairo, 1355-57), II, 129; V, 155; however, in such cases,
ta'assub is often used. * Al-Qifti,
Inbah, II, 242; as-Safadi,
Wafi, IV, 335. |
|
110 |
Cf. D.
Santillana, Istituzioni di
diritto musulmano malichita, 11, 514:
'asabah
'agnates,' derived from 'asaba,
'to surround, fortify,' because, as the
jurists say, the agnates surround a man and give him strength." |
|
111 |
Amr is a word of many meanings, the principal
ones being "command" and "matter." Kalimah means "word." In this
context, the meaning of either word would seem to be something like "the
whole business." Kalimah is commonly used in Muslim literature in
this sense. It may have gained this meaning from "word" coming to mean
"thing," a transition in meaning known from other Semitic languages.
Therefore, kalimah has usually been translated in the following
pages "the whole thing." |
|
112 |
Ibn Khaldun's three
steps: necessities, conveniences, and luxuries, correspond to Vico's six
steps: "Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to
comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow
dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance." Cf.
G. Vico, The New Science,
tr. T. G. Bergin and M. H. Fisch
(Ithaca, N. Y., 1948), p. 70. Cf. also Ibn Khaldun's five stages in the
life of dynasties, pp. 35a ff, below. |
|
113 |
Again,Vico (loc. cit.)
agrees with Ibn Khaldun: "The nature of peoples is
first crude, then severe, then benign, then delicate, finally
dissolute."
Al-Mubashshir b. Fatik, whose Mukhtar al-hikam, an
anthology of the sayings of the ancient sages, was very popular in
Spain-if not in Ibn Khaldun's time, at any rate a century earlier
-attributes the following saying to Plato (No. 400 of Plato's sayings,
quoted from the edition of the Mukhtar prepared by me = ed.
Badawi [Madrid, 19581, p. 176):
"Great dynasties are tough of nature at the beginning,
able to cope with realities and obedient to God and civil authority.
Later on, towards the end of their course [?], when the security of the
people has been assured, the latter begin to participate in the
well-being that has been prepared for them. Then, submerged in the life
of abundance and ease which the dynasty has made possible, they
give themselves over to luxury and no longer come to the support (of
the regime when it needs them). They are so affected by this course
of events that eventually they lack the power to defend
themselves against attack. When this has occurred, the power of the dynasty
crumbles at the first assault. Dynasties are like fruits: too firm to be
eaten at the beginning, they are of middling quality as they grow riper.
Once they are fully ripened they taste good, but now they have come as
close as fruits can come to rottenness and change." |
|
114 |
Cf. the saying ascribed to
Plato in al-Mubashshir b. Fatik, Mukhtar al-hikam,
No. 148 of Plato's sayings; cf. H. Knust,
Mittheilungen aus dem Eskurial
(Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, No.
141) (Tubingen, 1879), p. 224 = ed. Badawi (Madrid, 1958), p.149:
"Dynasties begin young, grow to adulthood, and pass into
their dotage. When the dynasty's income is greater than the ruler and
his followers merit, the dynasty is young and promises to endure. When
the income becomes equal to the need, the dynasty has reached
self-contained adulthood. And when the income falls below what is
needed, the dynasty has entered upon its second childhood."
|
|
115 |
Cf. S. Munk,
Melanges de philosophie juive et arabe
(Paris, 1859), p. 450 (n. 1). The same word
malakah is also used by Ibn
Khaldun in a different meaning as a technical term, "rulership." See p.
383, below. |
|
116 |
A
considerable proportion of the surviving literature is
very imperfectly known and has yet to be
published. |
|
117 |
See p. xxxvi, above. It may be noted that Ibn Khaldun had
a very low opinion of Abu Bakr, the Hafsid during whose reign he was
born, and did not trouble to conceal it. |
|
|