ISLAMIC POLITICAL THOUGHTS

Ibn-e-Khaldoon 

 Introduction: 

Abu Zaid Abd-al-Rahman Ibn-e-Khaldoon, the North African Muslim of the 14th century, was undoubtedly the first to introduce a most scientific method in the political study of the history of human civilization. He is distinguished for considering history as a science worthy of study and not merely a narration of facts. Ibn-e-Khaldoon belonged to an Andalusian family which had migrated from Seville to Tunis on the expulsion of Moors on the conquest of Spain by Ferdinand III of Castile. It was one of these humble families that Ibn-e-Khaldoon was born in 1332, and he raised to be a man of remarkable knowledge as well as of profound historical and political acumen, perhaps the first scientific historian of world and one who has left an indelible mark on the sciences of historiography and sociology. During fourteenth century, Tunis was the cradle of learning and knowledge. Young Ibn-e-Khaldoon took full advantage of the scholastic opportunities which were abundantly available there. He learnt the Quran by heart, studied the Traditions and Maliki Jurisprudence, as well as Arabic Grammar and Rhetoric from eminent scholars and by dint of his sharp diligence and intellect, he was taken in service at the age of twenty by the ruler of Tunis, Abu Ishaq II. The restless spirit that was in him made him roam about from one capital to another, now secretary of state of Fez, then crossing the straits of Gibraltar as a fief holder of Muhammad bin Yousaf, Sultan of Granada, later as the head of a political mission to Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile who was staying at his ancestral town of Seville. Then he moved on to the court of the Prince of Bejaya near Constantine. In 1374, he again went to Granada but it was not long before he was expelled back to Africa. After returning Africa he was tired and weary of perennial wanderings and he took refuge in African Desert and compiled his world-famed Prolegomena giving finishing touches to it about the middle of 1377, after which he returned to his native town of Tunis a quarter of a century after he had left it. In 1382 he went to Cairo where he lived the rest of his life. At Egypt, he occupied a distinct position and high status as a Chief Justice a number of times and during the intervals, he used to deliver lectures. He died as judge in Cairo on March 17, 1406. He was reverently buried in Sufi Cemetery outside Cairo’s Nasr Gate. He was a versatile genius, a great philosopher and a man of strong convictions of his age, who wielded an abysmal influence on the posterity. Ibn-e-Khaldoon made great contributions in the field of knowledge and learning and his works are still widely read by every student of political philosophy. He gave us the following works: 1. Kitab-al-Ibrar…..It is a universal history written in seven volumes, the introduction to this work entitled Muqaddamah, extensive enough to take the whole of the first volume. It was about the author’s views with regard to the nature and method of history. 2. al-Taarif 3. History of the Berbers Contribution of Ibn-e-Khaldoon to Islamic Political Thought Ibn-e-Khaldoon wielded a deep influence on his succeeding political philosophers due to his systematic study of political theory in a dark age, when political discussion meant nothing more than a rough and ready formulation of the functions of the ruler. Almost all the eminent western philosophers like Machiavelli, Boding, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Hegel and Marx were profoundly influenced by his political theory composed in his immortal work “Muqaddamah” which extensively deals with a great variety of subjects. Ibn-e-Khaldoon was greatly reverenced as a sage of the age and his contemporaries envied him for his steadfastness and political acumen for combating political abuses and ills that prevailed in all ages of thoughts and philosophies. He left behind a treasure of knowledge which will work as a store-house for the posterities. Ibn-e-Khaldoon discussed various Islamic political institutions in the light of the history of the early Islamic state. He made political enquiries into the various historical events of the early period of Islam with impartiality and analytical mind of jurist. He upholds the practicability of Islamic laws in the state and considers the Sharia state as definitely superior to the Power state. He contemplates little of the Siyast Madaniya for he considers the philosophers ideal state as the visionary product of utopian thought, having no relation with historical facts. The ideal for him is the Islamic state as it existed under the first four Caliphs. But his empiricism is manifest in his analysis of the Muslim empires of his own day. In his political thinking, it is Islam that emerges as the sole objective for all human endeavors. Mohsin Mahdi says, “The biographical, stylistic and doctrinal evidence introduced in this study establish this point beyond any reasonable doubt. It has been shown that he articulately though cautiously, defended the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle against Neo-Platonism, atomism and logical nominalism; and that his study of Prophecy, the religious law and the character of the Islamic community prove that he was a true disciple of the Islamic Platonic tradition of political philosophy.” Ibn-e-Khaldoon seems to be the only great thinker who not only saw the problems of the relation of the history and the science of society to traditional political philosophy but also made full endeavors to develop a science of society with the framework of political philosophy as based on its principles. According to Ibn-e-Khaldoon, traditional philosophy demands the study of man and society as they really are, and supplies the frame work of directing such a study and utilizing its results. Rosenthal was of the view that importance of Ibn-e-Khaldoon was not recognized in his own time, and until the seventeenth century did Muslims writers take any notice of him, while Europeans scholars discovered him only in the last century. Ibn-e-Khaldoon’s importance consists in a number of novel insights of permanent value and significance: 1. In his distinction between rural and urban life and the necessity of the latter for the emergence of civilization and a state in the strict sense of the term. 2. In his postulating the Asabiya as the principal driving force of political action. 3. In his projection of Islam into a universal human civilization, thus standing on the social and in the climate of Islam and looking out towards humanity at large. 4. In his realization of the casual interdependence of the several factors of social life in the power state; economic, military, cultural and religious. 5. In the concept of the parallel existence of the state founded by a prophetic law-giver, as distinct from the state built on power in response to the human need for political association and the desire of strong personalities for domination. 6. Arising from the last point, in his definition and analysis of the Islamic country, as a composite structure whose law is a mixture of Shariah and political law. 7. In his basic recognition of the vital part which religion should play in the life of the state, especially if it transforms the Asabiya into a durable, cohesive and spiritual motive power.