Revisiting Ibn Khaldun, the Revolutionary Child of Al-Falasifa: Is The Muqaddimah an Averroesian Break in Islamic Philosophy?

Ibn Khaldun is an important scholar who worked on different themes in Islamic thought and is still discussed, whose ideas are also valid for today. He studied Islamic sciences, including recitation, memorization and hadith, as well as logic on the one hand, and well versed in the peripatetic philosophy. Though he rejected the philosophers’ emphasis on metaphysics, he himself produced philosophy, and made references to their well-known works. He further argued that his philosophy lied outside the mainstream one, for he was the founder of a new science, which was one of the philosophical sciences. His new emphasis thus caused a transformation in the study of history. In this context, this article discusses Ibn Khaldun’s connection to philosophical schools, which is still debated in the literature, particularly comparing him with the famous Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd. Our discussion will also entail an analysis of his relation to other fields, such as theology and Sufism, as well as his directly philosophical arguments to provide a comprehensive investigation. Such a perspective requires reading his relation to Ibn Rushd not through the lenses of comparing the latter with Ghazali, as is often done today, but by focusing on how Ibn Khaldun himself made references to both of these philosophers and on the method he applied in his work. In this context, it is important to investigate how which he compiled The Muqaddimah through a plan based on a civilizational process,presents the different scientific disciplines of the time. Thus, this article aims to discuss the question of whether the science of umran, which he claimed to be one of the philosophical sciences, can be classified as part of a school; or whether such an attempt at classification would be meaningful for Ibn Khaldun himself.

Yorum yazın