Ibn Khaldun Quotes
Ibn Khaldun was a North African Arab historian and philosopher, born in Tunis to a family of Andalusian scholars. His Muqaddimah, the prolegomenon to a vast universal history, lays the foundation for what he called the science of human social organization, anticipating much of modern sociology, historiography, and political economy. The quotes below are attributed to Ibn Khaldun, organized by topic.
Browse Ibn Khaldun by topic
Ibn Khaldun on Death
-
“Civilization both in the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish. It swallowed up many of the good things of civilization and wiped them out. It overtook the dynasties at the time of their senility, when they had reached the limit of their duration. It lessened their power and curtailed their influence. It weakened their autho”
Quoted in Michael W. Dols, The Black Death in the Middle East, Princeton University Press, 1977, p. 67.
Ibn Khaldun on Freedom
-
“The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, owing to their low degree of humanity and proximity to the animal stage. Other persons who accept the status of slave do so as a means of attaining high rank, or power, or wealth, as is the case with the Mameluke Turks in the East and with those Franks and Galicians who enter the service of the state [in Spain].”
As quoted in Bernard Lewis , Race and Color in Islam, Harper and Row, 1970, quote on page 38. The brackets are displayed by Lewis.
Ibn Khaldun on God
-
“Indeed, you should not desire to weigh with the intellect the issues of Tawhīd and the Hereafter; the reality of Prophethood; the reality of divine attributes and every other thing beyond the scope of the intellect, for such a desire is futile. An example of this would be a man who has a scale used for weighing gold suddenly desiring to weigh mountains with it! This does not mean that the scale is wrong in its measures; rather, the intellect has a limit it cannot surpass and a boundary it cannot transcend.”
As quoted in Muḥammad Ramaḍān al-Ramaḍānī, ' The Delusion of Portraying the Aḥadīth as Being Contradictory to the Intellect and Sense Perception
Ibn Khaldun on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“History is a science, and its subject is the human social organization.”
-
“When civilization [population] increases, the available labor again increases. In turn, luxury again increases in correspondence with the increasing profit, and the customs and needs of luxury increase. Crafts are created to obtain luxury products. The value realized from them increases, and, as a result, profits are again multiplied in the town. Production there is thriving even more than before.”
Muqaddimah , 2:272–73 quoted in Weiss (1995), p. 30 -
“The sciences of only one nation, the Greeks , have come down to us, because they were translated through Al-Ma'mun 's efforts. He was successful in this direction because he had many translators at his disposal and spent much money in this connection.”
Wikiquote -
“Eventually, Aristotle appeared among the Greeks. He improved the methods of logic and systematized its problems and details. He assigned to logic its proper place as the first philosophical discipline and the introduction to philosophy. Therefore he is called the First Teacher .”
Muqaddimah , Translated by Franz Rosenthal, p. 39 and p. 383, Princeton University Press, 1981. -
“It should be known that at the beginning of a dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.”
Muqaddimah(1377) | Muqaddimah , Translated by Franz Rosenthal, p. 355, Princeton University Press, 2020.
Ibn Khaldun on Life
-
“When civilization [population] increases, the available labor again increases. In turn, luxury again increases in correspondence with the increasing profit, and the customs and needs of luxury increase. Crafts are created to obtain luxury products. The value realized from them increases, and, as a result, profits are again multiplied in the town. Production there is thriving even more than before. And so it goes with the second and third increase. All the additional labor serves luxury and wealth, in contrast to the original labor that served the necessity of life.”
Muqaddimah , 2:272–73 quoted in Weiss (1995), p. 30
Ibn Khaldun on Mind
-
“Indeed, you should not desire to weigh with the intellect the issues of Tawhīd and the Hereafter; the reality of Prophethood; the reality of divine attributes and every other thing beyond the scope of the intellect, for such a desire is futile. An example of this would be a man who has a scale used for weighing gold suddenly desiring to weigh mountains with it! This does not mean that the scale is”
As quoted in Muḥammad Ramaḍān al-Ramaḍānī, ' The Delusion of Portraying the Aḥadīth as Being Contradictory to the Intellect and Sense Perception
Ibn Khaldun on Politics
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“The vanquished always want to imitate the victor in his distinctive marks, his dress, his occupation, and all his other conditions and customs.”
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“Civilization both begins and ends with desert living.”
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“When civilization reaches the limit of luxury and ease, it begins to decay.”
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“Differences of conditions among people are the result of the different ways in which they make their living.”
-
Attributed to Ibn Khaldun:
“A scholar's relationship to politics and politicians is like that of a lamb to a wolf.”