Khaldun's extraordinarily eventful life is
chronicled in his autobiography, Al-ta'rif
bi Ibn Khaldun. He came from
an illustrious family and enjoyed an excellent education in his youth. Both his
parents died when the Black Death struck Tunis in 1349.
At
the age of 20 he was given a post at the court of Tunis, and later became
secretary to the sultan of Morocco in Fez. In the late 1350s he was imprisoned
for two years for suspicion of participating in a rebellion. After being
released and promoted by a new ruler, he again fell out of favor, and he
decided to go to Granada. Ibn Khaldun had served the Muslim ruler of Granada in
Fez, and Granada's prime minister, Ibn al-Khatib, was a renowned writer and a
good friend to Ibn Khaldun.
A
year later he was sent to Seville to conclude a peace treaty with King Pedro I
of Castile, who treated him with great generosity. However, intrigue raised its
ugly head and rumors were spread of his disloyalty, adversely affecting his
friendship with Ibn al-Khatib. He returned to Africa, where he changed
employers with unfortunate frequency and served in a variety of administrative
posts.
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In 1375, Ibn Khaldun sought refuge from the
tumultous political sphere with the tribe of Awlad 'Arif. They lodged him and
his family in a castle in Algeria, where he spent four years writing the Muqaddimah. This superior work is not merely a
history of the Arabs and Berbers, it is also a discussion of historical method
and the development of a philosophy of history.
Illness
drew him back to Tunis, where he continued his writing until difficulties with
the current ruler prompted him to leave once more. He moved to Egypt and
eventually took a teaching post at the Quamhiyyah college in Cairo, where he
later became chief judge of the Maliki rite, one of the four recognized rites
of Sunnite Islam. He took his duties as judge very seriously -- perhaps too
seriously for most of the tolerant Egyptians, and his term did not last long.
During
his time in Egypt, Ibn Khaldun was able to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and visit
Damascus and Palestine. Except for one incident in which he was forced to
participate in a palace revolt, his life there was relatively peaceful -- until
Timur invaded Syria.
The
new sultan of Egypt, Faraj, went out to meet Timur and his victorious forces,
and Ibn Khaldun was among the notables he took with him. When the Mamluk army
returned to Egypt, they left Ibn Khaldun in besieged Damascus. The city fell
into great peril, and the city leaders began negotiations with Timur, who asked
to meet Ibn Khaldun. The illustrious scholar was lowered over the city wall by
ropes in order to join the conqueror.
Ibn
Khaldun spent nearly two months in the company of Timur, who treated him with
respect. The scholar used his years of accumulated knowledge and wisdom to
charm the ferocious conqueror, and when Timur asked for a description of North
Africa, Ibn Khaldun gave him a complete written report. He witnessed the sack
of Damascus and the burning of the great mosque, but he was able to secure safe
passage from the decimated city for himself and other Egyptian civilians.
On
his way home from Damascus, laden with gifts from Timur, Ibn Khaldun was robbed
and stripped by a band of Bedouin. With the greatest of difficulty he made his
way to the coast, where a ship belonging to the Sultan of Rum, carrying an
ambassador to the sultan of Egypt, took him to Gaza. Thus he estabished contact
with the rising Ottoman Empire.
The
rest of Ibn Khaldun's journey and, indeed, the rest of his life were relatively
uneventful. He died in 1406 and was buried in the cemetery outside one of
Cairo's main gates.
statue d'Ibn Khaldoun sur l'avenue Habib
Bourguiba à Tunis (Tunisie)
