the world until 1400 according to ibn khaldûn: a global history of humanity

This book explores the significance of Ibn Khaldûn’s magnum opus, The Book of Examples, to our understanding of human history and the disciplines of anthropology, history, and sociology.

Operating outside of the confines of the Western intellectual tradition, Khaldûn’s The Book of Examples is perhaps the first attempt to propose a global history of humanity. In doing so, Khaldûn pioneered approaches from what we today term sociology, anthropology, ecology, economics, geography, and urban studies. Drawing upon the Muqaddimah and the other volumes of the Kitab al-Ibar, Cheddadi proposes novel ways of viewing human history and classifying societies. Whilst Khaldûn’s attempts to develop a true global history were ultimately flawed, Cheddadi argues that they nevertheless offer pertinent lessons for our attempts to write a global history and to understand the world today.

This stimulating and original work on a seminal figure in Islamic sociology and historiography will be of interest to students and researchers across the humanities and social sciences.

Abdesselam Cheddadi is a historian and philosopher, currently Professor Emeritus at Mohammed V University, Morocco. He has previously been a visiting professor at Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University and an Associate Director of Studies at the École des Hautes en Social Sciences in Paris. He is the author of numerous works on Arab civilization, culture and education, particularly Islamic historiography and the works of Ibn Khaldûn.