Essence of History
in the Discourse of Ibn Khaldūn and His Appraisal of Early Muslim
Historiographer
By: Dr. Issah Abeebllahi Obalowu & Yusuf Basirat Bolanle
Ibn Khaldūn emphasizes the significance of history and argues that every individual of any nation and race, whether literate or illiterate, is always eager to know about the bygone events. The majority always find their pleasure in listening to history, since its understanding requires not any additional efforts and prerequisites other than listening. More so, history serves as a means of learning from the real-life experience of the past generation.[1]
According to him, “history is an art of valuable doctrine, numerous in advantages and honourable in purpose; it informs us about bygone nations in the context of their habits, the Prophets in the context of their lives and kings in the context of their states and politics, so those who seek the guidance of the past in either worldly or religious matters may have that advantage.”[2] This description is what the simple meaning of history tends to be. However, the deeper definition of history involves speculation and attempt to discover the reality, accurate explanation of the matters and their principles, and deep knowledge of the events and how and why they occurred. Therefore, according to Ibn Khaldūn, the science of history is firmly rooted in philosophy, and it is worthy to be counted as one of its branches.[3]
Ibn Khaldūn's Appraisal of The Previous Islamic Scholars of Historiography
Ibn Khaldūn emphasized the efforts of the earliest Muslim scholars of history and commended their efforts for the documentation of those historic events in their various voluminous books of history. He considered their works to be comprehensive and complete references for the ummah on the affairs of its past generations and the events of their time, since their writings encompassed different aspects of historical events. He stressed the fact that the primacy and preference of those scholars in this field are undeniable and highly appreciated. However, he realized the areas of weakness in their works and analyzed the reasons why some of the earlier Islamic scholars of history narrated some fabricated information in their books.
The main reasons for that lie in the general method of those scholars which was mainly based on the compilation of the narrations without thorough and sufficient investigations on the level of their authenticity, and without giving enough consideration to the extent of the coherence between the narrations and the circumstances revolved around them. More so, none of those books is free from the narrations which are suspicious and questionable, due to the lax review and interference of the common people who knew nothing about history.
Nevertheless, Ibn Khaldun argues that such lapses in the approach of the earliest Islamic scholars of history usually happen to the pioneers of every discipline. Since the pioneers always build the foundation, upon which the coming generations could build their further efforts in the same field.[4] The pioneers of history among the scholars of Islam, according to Ibn Khaldun, include Muḥammad ibn Isḥᾱq bin Yasᾱr (85-150 A.H.), Muhammad ibn al-Jarīrī al-Ṭabarī (224-310 A.H.), Hishᾱm ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sᾱ’ib al-Kalbī (110-204 A.H.), Muḥammad bin 'Umar al-Waqidī (130-207 A.H.) and Sayf bin 'Umar al-Asadī al-Tamīmī (90-180 A.H.) and some others. The few aforementioned scholars and their likes among other distinguished Muslim scholars of history were the pioneers in the field of history who have cleared the road for the later generations.[5]
Some other later scholars of history that came after the aforementioned scholars followed the same approach in documenting history. So, Ibn Khaldun strongly condemned the approach of the later scholars and considered their works to be a mere repetition and carbon copy of historical materials of the earlier scholars, without considering any other additional factors and circumstances related to history.[6]
The scope of the earlier Islamic scholars of history can be grouped into two different categories:
i. The scholars whose books covered the history of their own time and the time of the generations who have lived before them, such as Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Masʿūdī(283-346 A.H.) and others.
ii. Some other scholars of history that limited the scope of their works to the time in which they lived. Thus, they only focused on the events of their nations, such as Abu Hayyan al-Gharnᾱṭī (654-745 A.H.), the historian of Spain, and Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Qāsim ar-Raqīq al-Qayrawānī (d. 420 A.H.), who is known as Ibn al-Rafiq the historian of Africa and the Qayrawᾱnī dynasty.[7]
For full paper: see[8]
[1] See: Ibn Khaldūn, Dīwᾱn al-Mubtadai, 6.
[2] Al-Jubouri, Ibn Khaldun and the Philosophy of History; Ibn Khaldūn, Dīwᾱn al-Mubtadai, 13.
[3] Ibn Khaldūn, Dīwᾱn al-Mubtadai, 13.
[4] Ibid., 6-7
[5] Ibn Khaldūn, Dīwᾱn al-Mubtadai, 6-7.
[6] Ibid., 7-8.
[7] Ibid.,
7.
[8] Obalowu, Issah Abeebllahi, and Yusuf Basirat Bolanle. 2022. “Scrutinising Historical Narrations: Between Ibn Khaldūn and the Scholars of Ḥadīth Criticism”. AL-BURHĀN: JOURNAL OF QURʾĀN AND SUNNAH STUDIES 6 (1). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.:14-29. https://journals.iium.edu.my/al-burhan/index.php/al-burhan/article/view/231.
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