A scholar among princes
Explore the autobiography as a record of teachers, offices and journeys, and as a self-portrait shaped by the author of the Muqaddimah.
An original introduction. This guide accompanies the work; it is neither the complete text nor a translation.
Situating the text
First written as the closing section of the Kitab al-ʿIbar and carried down to 1395, it was later revised and extended to 1405, a year before his death. It is among the most detailed autobiographies in medieval Arabic, though it says far more about his public life than about his inner one; its last pages describe his meeting with Timur. Known as al-Taʿrif, or Ibn Khaldun and His Journey West and East, this autobiography traces his genealogy, describes his teachers and the texts he studied with them, and follows his career through the courts of the Maghreb, al-Andalus and Egypt, quoting letters, poems and official documents along the way.
Following the arguments
Teachers and learning : Long notices on his masters, above all al-Abili, show how knowledge passed through personal teaching, licences and travel within the scholarly networks of the Maghreb. Life at court : Episodes of favour, intrigue, prison and flight give a first-hand view of the unstable power that the Muqaddimah analyses in general terms. Meeting Timur : Outside Damascus in 1401 he answers the conqueror’s questions on the Maghreb and on history, mixing flattery, caution and keen observation.
Continuing the reading
Read the account of the meeting with Timur first, then return to the sections on Fez and Granada, and ask how the author shapes the story of his own career to fit the lessons of his history. First written as the closing section of the Kitab al-ʿIbar and carried down to 1395, it was later revised and extended to 1405, a year before his death. It is among the most detailed autobiographies in medieval Arabic, though it says far more about his public life than about his inner one; its last pages describe his meeting with Timur.
The autobiography presents a life lived inside the instability the Muqaddimah describes, told with deliberate reserve about its private side.
Your turn to think.
- What do the notices on his teachers reveal about how learning was transmitted in the Maghreb of his youth?
- How does Ibn Khaldun present his conduct before Timur, and what does that choice tell us about his aims as a writer?
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