The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History

“History is a discipline widely cultivated among nations and races. It is eagerly sought after. The men in the street, the ordinary people, aspire to know it. Kings and leaders vie for it.”

Ibn Khaldun opens The Muqaddimah with rhetorical moves to bring the reader into his work. First, he establishes the importance of his study by pointing to the fact that telling stories of the past is practically universal. Everyone, from ordinary people to kings, desires it—so implicitly the reader should too. The repetition in the last two sentences, such as adding “ordinary people” in apposition with “men in the street,” helps reinforce this universal appeal and justifies Ibn Khaldun’s work.

“As a result, this book has become unique, as it contains unusual knowledge and familiar if hidden wisdom.”

Although Ibn Khaldun occasionally employs the humility trope commonly used by contemporary writers asking others to correct his poor efforts, more often he writes with unusual confidence and conviction about the importance of his work. Frustrated by the multiplication of poor scholarship, he believes scholarly writing ought only to occur when there is something truly useful to say. Therefore, he asserts he does have something new to say and that it is useful for imparting wisdom to the reader. His theories of morality and human nature may be familiar to those who share his Muslim worldview, but others have failed to see how these lessons are hidden in the processes and