The Muqaddimah Book Summary - The Muqaddimah Book explained in key points

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The Muqaddimah summary

Name: The Muqaddimah
Rating: 4 (83 reviews)
Author: Ibn Khaldūn

Ibn Khaldūn

An Introduction to History

4 (83 ratings)

20 mins

Table of Contents

The Muqaddimah
summarized in 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Learn about history from the point of view of fourteenth-century Islam.

How many history books have you read? Or maybe you prefer watching historical documentaries on TV? Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with some history. But the vast majority of westerners only know about one particular type of history – the Eurocentric type.

But history is a vast subject, and the history of the West is, at most, only half the story. These blinks offer a brief summary of Ibn Khaldūn’s ideas and opinions. Although some of his thinking may seem outdated or even shocking, Ibn Khaldūn was one of the most prominent Islamic scholars and historians of the Middle Ages, and his opinions were at the intellectual forefront of the age.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why leading a settled life makes us lazy;
why a powerful civilization was never established at the North Pole; and
why a community's success depends on its feeling of togetherness, rather than its power.

Social organization separates humans from animals and leads to human civilization.

Have you ever wondered how a relatively defenseless and weak species like Homo sapiens came to dominate the Earth, when far more dangerous animals, like lions with their claws and crocodiles with their jaws, could easily devour us?

Well, our strength and power come from our ability to think, not to fight, and this enables us to work together and organize socially.

Because humans are more physically vulnerable than other animals, we rely on the help of others for defense. Through social organization and cooperation, we’ve been able to meet the needs of many and defend against fearsome predators.

For example, a human is nowhere near as strong as a lion. Placed in the unfortunate position of having to fight such a ferocious opponent, we would surely lose.

But there’s strength in numbers. When we work together, we ensure security, and a better chance of survival, for all.

The author contends that God gave us something even better than claws and fangs: thought. Our ability to think allowed us to realize that forming communities would assist the survival of humankind.

The ability to think not only helps us to survive; it also confirms our superiority over animals. By granting humans the ability to think, God demonstrated His desire for us to settle the world and act as His representatives on earth.

Our ability to think, coupled with our dexterous hands, has resulted in the many crafts that characterize human civilization. Rather than using our claws like lions, we use our hands to create tools, such as lances and swords, with which to defend ourselves.

Though it is our ability to think that distinguishes us from animals, we nonetheless share the same penchant for aggression and injustice. For this reason, we must be led by a strong authority to restrain our primal aggression and keep the peace. As you’ll learn in later blinks this royal authority is crucial to human success.

Different climates have different effects on individuals and societies.

We now know that humans have successfully inhabited nearly every corner of the globe – from the Incas in Peru to the Vikings in Norway. From the author’s historical perspective, however, human civilization seemed to be limited to a small section of the world.

He posited that temperate climates produced greater civilizations. Though there was undoubtedly civilization in harsher climates, like the Arctic Circle, these communities were less fixed and less expansive, boasting nothing like the Colosseum in Rome or the Taj Mahal in India.

The scarcity or abundance of food influences our body and character.

Intuitively, one would think that temperate climates produce fertile zones abounding in food. But this is not the case, and as you’ll soon discover, this lack of abundance was once considered a blessing.

The author believed that consuming too many high-moisture foods, such as butter and seasonings, is bad for the body and mind. This seemed especially obvious with regards to the body, as such foods result in an ugly complexion and figure. But such foods were also thought to dull the mind, ultimately causing stupidity.

Certain people have been chosen by God to act as His prophets, the greatest of these being Muhammad.

Christians believe that Jesus was the chosen one. Buddhists believe the same of the Buddha; Muslims, the same of Muhammad. This is no coincidence.

God has chosen certain people, such as the prophet Muhammad, to lead others. These chosen people have certain defining characteristics. For example, they are innocent and seek to propagate religion and divine worship through prayer, alms and charity.

“Group feeling” is the force that defines a civilization’s success in battle.

Why were the Americans defeated by the Viet Cong in the mid-twentieth century? After all, the Americans had superior weapons and greater numbers. Perhaps it all boiled down to a lack of group feeling among the various sides.

Group feeling is vital for support and aid within the group, as well as for scaring off attackers. In essence, group feeling refers to solidarity with the group to which you belong; it’s similar to modern-day nationalism.

Royal authority is necessary to maintain order and restrain the evil in us.

When God created human beings, He didn’t make them morally neutral. Rather, He imbued them with the power to commit acts of great kindness as well as acts of pure evil.

But good and evil do not share the same origin. Evil is something we share with animals, and stems from a failure to let religion guide our lives and customs. But how can we curb this innate evil? The answer is through royal authority.

Urbanization is a feature of sedentary civilizations and is ultimately self-destructive.

Early human communities were nomadic, moving around in search of food. Eventually, however, there came a time to settle down into a sedentary life.

Urbanization – that is, the concentration of a population in one area – is one feature of sedentary life. But why settle in the first place? Settling gives civilizations the ability to more easily defend themselves and more easily acquire resources through strategic placement of cities. Building near a forest, for example, gives a settled population better access to building materials.

Everyone is out to make a profit.

Most people consider Adam Smith to be the “father of capitalism.” But if you look further back in history, similarities between fourteenth-century Islamic thinking and modern-day capitalism become apparent.

Indeed, all people strive to accumulate things and make a profit, that is, income acquired by labor, not by mere chance. And when people pool their labor, it results in greater profits.

Humans are superior to all other living beings because of their ability to think and accumulate knowledge.

Humans share many qualities with the rest of the animal kingdom. However, unlike animals, we possess some angelic qualities as well.

At the root of this distinction is the human ability to think. Human behavior is well organized and orderly because our actions are the result of thought. Through thought we are able to perceive the order that already exists, either due to nature or arbitrary arrangement.

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What is The Muqaddimah about?

The Muqaddimah (fourteenth century, first English edition 1958), a classic text on the Islamic history of the world, focuses on the rise and fall of civilizations. It offers a unique glimpse into the world of the fourteenth-century Arab Muslim, and is regarded as a foundational text in several academic disciplines.

Best quote from The Muqaddimah

Human social organization is something necessary.

—Ibn Khaldūn

Who should read The Muqaddimah?

History enthusiasts
People interested in social organization
Participants in Mark Zuckerberg’s A Year of Books

About the Author

Ibn Khaldūn, a fourteenth-century Arab Muslim scholar, is one of the “founding fathers” of modern sociology, historiography, demographics and economics.

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