The definitive account of the life and thought of the medieval Arab genius who wrote the Muqaddima
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world--a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.
Irwin tells how Ibn Khaldun, who lived in a world decimated by the Black Death, held a long series of posts in the tumultuous Islamic courts of North Africa and Muslim Spain, becoming a major political player as well as a teacher and writer. Closely examining the Muqaddima, a startlingly original analysis of the laws of history, and drawing on many other contemporary sources, Irwin shows how Ibn Khaldun's life and thought fit into historical and intellectual context, including medieval Islamic theology, philosophy, politics, literature, economics, law, and tribal life. Because Ibn Khaldun's ideas often seem to anticipate by centuries developments in many fields, he has often been depicted as more of a modern man than a medieval one, and Irwin's account of such misreadings provides new insights about the history of Orientalism.
In contrast, Irwin presents an Ibn Khaldun who was a creature of his time-a devout Sufi mystic who was obsessed with the occult and futurology and who lived in an often-strange world quite different from our own.
Industry Reviews
"As an introduction to Ibn Khaldun's fascinating life and times, his ideas, and how they have been understood and misunderstood over the centuries, you could hardly wish for something better."---Thomas Small, Times Literary Supplement
"A compelling new account of the 14th-century Arab historian and polymath. . . . Irwin has produced an exemplary work."---Gavin Jacobson, Financial Times
"Irwin wears his immense erudition lightly and gives an often very funny account of how orientalists, historians and modern Arab nationalist have interpreted Ibn Khaldun's most famous work. . . . Irwin offers his readers a superb work of intellectual recovery, one which presents Ibn Khaldun as a creature of his time. . . . He has resurrected for us the medieval Muslim mind."---Francis Ghiles, The Spectator
"One of Asian Review of Books' Books of the Year (Biography & Memoir)"
"The book is entertaining and thought-provoking in itself; it is not the last word but provides a fascinating guide to further reading."---Patrick Manning, Connections
"This book engages the mind in a positive way and provides an academic but highly accessible introduction to a complex topic."---Abdullah Drury, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
"Irwin's book lives up to its name. . . . [It is] a work that will be of interest not only to students of Islamic intellectual history, but also to students of historiography, sociology, and anthropology. Irwin's writing is accessible to all levels of readership. Well suited for seminar discussions, as it offers much to debate."---T.M. May, Choice
"Irwin's portrait of the philosopher is beautifully written, intriguing, stimulating and movingly intimate."---Doris Behrens-Abouseif, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
"Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography is both an introduction to his work and an intervention into Ibn Khaldun studies."---Sameer Rahim, Prospect
"I did enjoy this style of biography as Irwin brought the mind of Ibn Khaldun into focus and showed the genius that [is] worthy of standing with other 'well-regarded' thinkers of the past."---Gaele Hince, I am, Indeed blog
"In Robert Irwin, Ibn Khaldun has finally found a biographer and interpreter almost as versatile and learned as he was himself."---Eric Ormsby, Wall Street Journal
"One of the Financial Times' Best Books of the Year: Critics' Picks"
"The great merit of Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography is that it encourages us to treat the intellectual history of the Islamic world not as a battleground for contemporary ideological struggles but as a subject worthy of investigation in its own right."---Fitzroy Morrissey, Standpoint
"Irwin's book is very informative and well-argued in addressing the life and works of Ibn Khaldun in both historical and intellectual contexts."---Fadi Zatari, Insight Turkey
"In his highly readable appraisal of Ibn Khaldun's life and work, Robert Irwin sets out to demythologize and, at the same time, remystify a man whose mind was formed far from the seminar rooms of 20th-century social science. . . . [C]oncise and compelling."---Nile Green, Los Angeles Review of Books
