brilliant understanding of society and religion. It is
divided into a preface and six substantive chapters.
The chapters address the following subjects: society
and nature, tribal society, politics and government,
urban society, economics, and religious knowledge
and the sciences. In these chapters, he proposes
what he calls a “new science” of history and civili-
zation. Ibn Khaldun argues that at the beginning of
human culture, kin-based groups banded together
to overcome the forces of nature, with the most
successful ones developing a strong feeling of
group solidarity, which he called asabiyya. Compe-
tition and conflict between groups in time ended
with some groups becoming more powerful than
others, forming political states. Eventually this led
to the establishment of the institutions of govern-
ment, the building of great cities and civilizations,
and the development of learning. Ibn Khaldun
acknowledges that the laws established to restrain
human violence and ensure justice could be either
natural (man-made) or God-given. Revealed law,
he argues, especially in a religion such as Islam, not
only contributes to worldly security but also offers
salvation in the aFterliFe. Drawing on his own life
experience and knowledge of history, however,
Ibn Khaldun also recognizes that ruling dynasties,
cities, and civilizations fall and that morality and
justice become corrupted. Indeed, he believes that
civilizations possess the seeds of their own destruc-
tion, for with prosperity and luxury, the bonds of
social solidarity weaken, leaving them vulnerable
to collapse from within and invasion from without.
Tribal groups possessing a more profound degree of
group solidarity then arise and form new states and
civilizations, thus inaugurating another phase in
the cycle of history. Ibn Khaldun sought to convey
to the rulers under whom he served the secrets of
history that, if mastered, would assure long-lasting
peace and security for their subjects and preserve
the civilizational heritage they enjoyed.
Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of history had a
mixed reception in his own time and was favor-
ably viewed by reform-minded Ottoman histo-
rians in the 18th century. However, it has been
most deeply appreciated by modern scholars in
the West and in Muslim countries; many see it as
an exemplary attempt to explain history, society,
and religion in terms of human reason.Further reading: Frances Carney Gies, “The Man Who
Met Tamerlane.” Saudi Aramco World 29 (September/
October 1978): 14–21; Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah:
An Introduction to History. Translated by Franz Rosen-
thal. Edited and abridged by N. J. Dawood (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004); Muhsin Mahdi,
Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy of History (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1964).Ibn Muqla, Abu Ali Muhammad (886–
940) chief minister of three Abbasids and inventor of
the proportioned scripts used in Arabic calligraphy
Born in baghdad at the height of its power and influ-
ence, Ibn Muqla was responsible for inventing or
implementing a number of administrative reforms.
These included the regularization of scripts neces-
sary for documentation and for copying historical
and other cultural tracts and that were later used
for copying the qUran. Recent research shows that
these reforms disrupted preexisting systems and
eliminated the class of professional Quran copyists.
These findings revise Orientalist views of Arabic
calligraphy as an evolutionary process and as an
Islamic art form that merely compensated for the
supposed absence of figural representation.
Ibn Muqla’s writing system, known as al-khatt
al-mansub, enabled the letters of any given script to
be in proportion to one another. It required a well
cut pen (qalam) with a deep slit for holding ink. The
nib produced a rhombus-shaped dot that became
the basic unit of a geometric letter design system.
Writing an alif (the long, vertical Arabic A) required
a number of dots one on top of the other, resulting
in the maximum height of any other letter. The alif
acted as control: its total height was the diameter
of a circle that enclosed all letters of a particular
script. Accordingly, letters were in proportion to
one another inasmuch as they were proportionalIbn Muqla, Abu Ali Muhammad 335 J