THE MUQADDIMAH: An Introduction to History

Description

Human civilization in general -- Bedouin civilization, savage nations and tribes and their conditions of life, including several basic and explanatory statements -- On dynastics, royal authority, the caliphate, government ranks, and all that goes with these things -- Countries and cities, and all other forms of sedentary civilization -- On the various aspects of making a living, such as profit and the crafts ; the conditions that occur in this connection -- The various kinds of sciences ; the methods of instruction.;The Muqaddimah, often translated as "Introduction" or "Prolegomenon," is the most important Islamic history of the premodern world. Written by the great fourteenth-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldûn (d. 1406), this monumental work established the foundations of several fields of knowledge, including the philosophy of history, sociology, ethnography, and economics. The first complete English translation, by the eminent Islamicist and interpreter of Arabic literature Franz Rosenthal, was published in three volumes in 1958 as part of the Bollingen Series and received immediate acclaim in the United States and abroad. A one-volume abridged version of Rosenthal's masterful translation first appeared in 1969. This Princeton Classics edition of the abridged version includes Rosenthal’s original introduction as well as a contemporary introduction by Bruce B. Lawrence. This volume makes available a seminal work of Islam and medieval and ancient history to twenty-first century audiences. (Publisher). Human civilization in general -- Bedouin civilization, savage nations and tribes and their conditions of life, including several basic and explanatory statements -- On dynastics, royal authority, the caliphate, government ranks, and all that goes with these things -- Countries and cities, and all other forms of sedentary civilization -- On the various aspects of making a living, such as profit and the crafts the conditions that occur in this connection -- The various kinds of sciences the methods of instruction.