muqaddimah

The Muqaddimah, meaning “The Introduction,” is the prolegomenon to Ibn Khaldun’s universal history work Kitab al-Ibar. Written in the Hafsid period in Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia) in the late 14th century, it is considered a foundational work in philosophy of history, sociology, and historiography.

The work lays out a method for studying history that emphasizes causation, evidence, and the reliability of sources. Ibn Khaldun introduces key concepts such as asabiyya, or social cohesion, which he argues helps sustain dynasties during their rise and decline. He analyzes the differences between nomadic and sedentary life, the economic basis of states (labor, taxation, trade), urbanization, and the environmental and geographic factors shaping civilizations. Religion, education, and science are treated as integral to social development and as important subjects for historical inquiry.

In scholarship, the Muqaddimah is regarded as an early and influential contribution to sociology and historiography. It advances a theory-driven, empirical approach to history, critiques uncritical chronicle writing, and emphasizes patterns, cycles, and the conditions that produce political power and social change.

The work survives primarily as an introduction to Kitab al-Ibar and has circulated in manuscript and printed forms. A major modern edition and English translation is Franz Rosenthal’s The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History (1967), which helped popularize the text in the Western academy. Other translations and editions have followed.

Although the Muqaddimah is a standalone prologue, it is often presented as a cohesive treatise organized around its thematic chapters on knowledge, history, society, statecraft, and civilization.