Ibn Khaldun: A Brief Discourse on His Historiography, Philosophy, Science and Racism in Muqaddimah

Abstract

Ibn Khaldun is recognized as one of the most influential philosophers of history. Although he wrote in the late 13th and early 14th  centuries, his works have stood the test of time and remain relevant in the understanding of trends in historical development. The focus  of this article is to briefly analyse the major ideas and contributions of Ibn Khaldun to the philosophy of history. As a mirror, this article  specifically explores some aspects of Khaldun’s magnum opus: The Muqaddimah from historical and philosophical points of view. This is  done here by examining Ibn Khaldun’s ideology, environment, subject matter, and the purpose of his writing The Muqaddimah. The  article also interrogates aspects of Ibn Khaldun’s ideas such as race and ethnicity which have not received extensive attention from  scholars. Using mainly content analysis, the work discusses the overall relevance of The Muqaddimah to contemporary historical studies.  It concludes that the historiography and philosophy of Ibn Khaldun help to understand the factors and forces shaping historical  development up to the present time.