The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History - Abridged Edition

By Ibn Khaldûn, N. J. Dawood, Franz Rosenthal and Bruce B. Lawrence

The Muqaddimah, often translated as "Introduction" or "Prolegomenon," is the most important Islamic history of the premodern world. Written by the great fourteenth-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldûn (d. 1406), this monumental work established the foundations of several fields of knowledge, including the philosophy of history, sociology, ethnography, and economics. The first complete English translation, by the eminent Islamicist and interpreter of Arabic literature Franz Rosenthal, was published in three volumes in 1958 as part of the Bollingen Series and received immediate acclaim in the United States and abroad. A one-volume abridged version of Rosenthal's masterful translation first appeared in 1969.

This Princeton Classics edition of the abridged version includes Rosenthal's original introduction as well as a contemporary introduction by Bruce B. Lawrence. This volume makes available a seminal work of Islam and medieval and ancient history to twenty-first century audiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781400866090

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Reviews for The Muqaddimah

[rajivc_18 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are books that are good, and there are books that are magnificent. This book by Ibn Khaldun falls into the latter category. The editing and translation are superb.After reading this abridged version, I decided that in the near future I will read the entire text. Ibn Khaldun's thinking was far ahead of his time and is advanced even in our modern age. He was a true intellectual, whose vision went wide. This edition focuses on the nature of civilization and is - as per the subtitle - an introduction to history. The book does not focus on kings and queens, but not on how kingdoms and civilization developed in his part of the world. When you read this book, you get an excellent understanding of life in the Middle East at that time, what forces were at play and how the Bedouin culture interacted with the more settled urban culture. Read this book. You will want more.

[sashame-485567 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Criminally ignored in history of philosophy/intellectual history, since it shockingly illustrates the different ways European & Arabic philosophy were working. This work, written in the 1300s, predates & anticipates a fantastic number of "unique" and "milestone" breakthroughs in European philosophy, including:

Limits of induction (Hume), compromise between rationalism & empiricism (Kant), inaccessibility of the noumenal world (also Kant), Labor theory of value (Smith/Marx), necessity of interpretation due to cultural/linguistic relativity (Vico/Herder), Truth as intellectual consensus conforming to empirical observation (Popper), tension between truth in text and truth in speech (Derrida), language influences thought (Whorf), the power necessarily inherent in law (Weber/Foucault)

and probably some others as well

[ajdeus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Muqaddimah is a pleasurable read for experts with many surprises (in the background/sidelines). Rosenthal's bracket fillers are sometimes annoying and misleading. Khaldun finished the work in 1377, which is a pivotal year in both, the Renaissance and also the decline of Islam civilization into intellectual and economic poverty. It is written at a time where much of Islam's high culture had already been lost. The Muqaddimah is full of superstitions that replaced earlier Arab knowledge. Khaldun's social economic system is based on group feeling (singular nationalism), social cooperation (socialism) and natural cycles of excessive wealth that corrupt civilizations. He recognizes urbanization as a key factor to prosperity. As a stark reminder to modernity, excess leads to living above means, according to Khaldun, and to the corruption of character. This, he argues, leads to the ruin of civilizations. Hence, his conclusion is that religion - his Sufi version of religion - is the only way to keep a civilization sane and modest. It is an important book that builds a bridge to some understanding of modern Muslim thought. Many of Khaldun's offerings are found in Gaddafi's Green book in a slightly modified version. The historical narrative that is based on traditions (that were invented after the fact) are useless for the student of history. For more information about how the traditions and the main Arab sects fit into history, see The Great Leap-Fraud.