Political theory of Ibn Khaldun

Abstract

Ibn Khaldun represents one of the most important personalities in the history of Islamic thought, but also one of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages. His best known work, al-Muqaddimah, is one of the most original analyses of the process of historical evolution of a society, state and human civilization in general. The essence of this monumental work lies in the identification of social, economic and psychological reasons which contribute to the development, rise and fall of the human civilization and therefore fundamentally shape historical flows. Ibn Khaldun undoubtedly made a big contribution to the historical science, but it is also important to emphasize his contribution to other social sciences, such as sociology, politicology and economy. This great thinker represents a unique appereance in the Muslim history and culture. Just like he never had any predecessors among Arab writers, he also did not have any successors in his fileds of research.

Keywords

• Ibn Khaldun
• al-Muqaddimah
• islamic thought
• Islamic caliphate
• history
• society
• state
• civilization
• asabiyya
• nomadic/sedentary community