The Muqaddimah
Written in the fourteenth century by the North African scholar Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah is the introduction to his larger universal history. In it, Ibn Khaldun sets out a method for studying history as a science of human society, examining how civilizations form, grow, and decline. He develops the idea of 'asabiyya,' or group solidarity, to explain how tribes gain power, build states, and then lose cohesion over generations. The work also discusses economics, labor, taxation, education, and the difference between nomadic and settled life. Often cited as an early foundation for sociology, historiography, and economic thought, it remains a major work of medieval Islamic scholarship and world intellectual history.
What you might want to know about The Muqaddimah
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A fourteenth-century introduction to history that lays out an early theory of society, economics, and the rise and fall of states.
It is often cited as an early foundation for sociology, historiography, and economic thought.
It is Ibn Khaldun's term for group solidarity, which he uses to explain how states gain power and later decline.
The Muqaddimah was written by Ibn Khaldun, published in 1858 by Princeton University Press.
The Muqaddimah is 512 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Muqaddimah takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
The Muqaddimah is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.