On Ibn Khaldun’s Historical Method

Abstract

The concept of history plays a fundamental role in human thought. What happened in the past affects all aspect of lives in the present and will, indeed, affect what happens in the future. Because the past is important to the present and future, most societies have felt a need interpretation of their past. But the problem is ‘what exactly is the past?’, ‘what actually happened in the past?. These fundamental questions in order to get and understand the past, historians apply their methods to the documents of the past. In this respect Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) who is Muslim and considered as one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages, not only attempted to think the problem of history, but also developed a science of history, or a ‘science of culture’ ( ilm al-umran). In his famous study which is called The Muqaddimah or Prolegomena ("Introduction") he introduced the scientific method to the social sciences.
This paper will focus on Ibn Khaldun’s ideas about history and historical method according to his famous study The Muqaddimah.