Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis in 1332 into an Arab family that had come from Seville in Muslim Spain. He received a thorough education in the Quran, law, philosophy and poetry, but his parents and many teachers died in the Black Death of 1348–1349. He spent much of his life in the service of the rulers of North Africa and Granada, holding posts as secretary, minister and diplomat, and was sometimes imprisoned when political fortunes changed. Around 1375 he withdrew for several years to a castle at Qalat Ibn Salama in Algeria, where he wrote the Muqaddimah, the introduction to his universal history. It analyzes why dynasties rise and fall, emphasizing asabiyya, the group solidarity that he argued gives desert peoples the strength to conquer cities, and which weakens over generations of settled luxury. It also discusses economics, labor, taxation and the methods of historians. In 1382 he moved to Cairo, where he taught and served several times as a chief judge. In 1401 he met the conqueror Timur outside Damascus. He died in Cairo in 1406.

Ibn Khaldun is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Sunni Muslim historian and scholar. Source: Wikipedia