Re-reading Ibn-Khaldun in the 21st Century: Traveling Theory and the Question of Authority, Legitimacy, and State Violence in the Modern Arab World

Abozeid, Ahmed Abdelaziz

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.43.2.0146

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Volume 43, Issue 2

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Re-reading Ibn-Khaldun in the 21st Century: Traveling Theory and the Question of Authority, Legitimacy, and State Violence in the Modern Arab World

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Author(s): Ahmed Abozeid

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2021

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Ibn Khaldun, Edward Said, traveling theory, decolonialization, Arab State, authority, legitimacy

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Abstract

To illuminate the complicated relationship between the authorities and society in the contemporary Arab world, this paper draws on Ibn Khaldun's propositions. By applying Edward Said's notion of traveling theory, it traces, interrogates, and evaluates ways in which multiple readings of Ibn Khaldun's theory have been (re)formulated, transplanted, and circulated by other authors, and how these theories traveled from an earlier point to another time and place where they come into new prominence. Furthermore, it examines how three contemporary Arab thinkers (Abid Al-Jabri, Abdullah Laroui, and Nazih Ayubi) addressed and interpreted the heritage of Ibn Khaldun and his theory on state formation and authority constitutive in the Arab Islamic world (particularly the Sunni world). The paper concludes that, in comparison with Said's “traveling theory” intentions, the three modern Arabic readings of Ibn Khaldun's theory were not traveling as much as it was attempting to uproot, distort, suffocate, and even bury Ibn Khaldun's original theory, as well as obliterate and culturally appropriate the features of the original theory, and portray it as the opposite of progress and modernization, in favor of enhancing the dominance of Western epistemology.

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Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005550

Journal ID (jcode): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 0271-3519

ISSN: 2043-6920

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2021

Volume: 43

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/arabstudquar.43.issue-2 )

Pages: 146-171

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.43.2.0146

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.43.2.0146

SO-VID: 8846cd3d-c542-46e2-aee0-c0f512891c28

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences

Keywords: traveling theory,authority,Arab State,decolonialization,legitimacy,Ibn Khaldun,Edward Said

Notes

O. Anjum, Politics, Law and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 113, 124-127.
See: K. Abdul-latif, Fi tashreeah usoul alastbdad: qera'ah fi nezam al-Adab al-Sultaniya (Beirut: Dar Al-Talia, 1999). A. Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-horiah (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1983). A. Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1981).
A. Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat Ibn Khaldun, ed. and introduced by Ali Abdul Wahid Wafi (Cairo: Dar nahdet misr, [1950] 2014), 510 and after. This paper relies on Rosenthal's translation: Abdulrahman Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, trans. and introduced by Franz Rosenthal (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, [1967] 2015). However, this version misses six sections (or fasl in Arabic) of Ibn Khaldun's last version, including chapters on the repercussions of the state violence against the people of the cities (e.g., chapter 16, part 2, vol. 2). Parts that have been quoted from Wafi's version will be cited as Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, while the ones that quoted from Rosenthal's version will be cited as Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah.
See: H. A. Gibb, Studies on the Civilization of Islam (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962). Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1789-1939 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962). Syed Farid Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).
Edward Said, The World, the Text, and the Critic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983), 225-247.
Said, The World, 226.
Said, The World, 230.
Said, The World, 227.
Said, The World, 241.
Said, The World, 226.
Said, The World, 226.
Said, The World, 237.
Said, The World, 236.
Said, The World, 241.
György Lukács, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics (London: Merlin Press, [1923] 1975).
Said, The World, 241-242.
Said, The World, 241-242.
Cf. Taha Hussein, Filsafat Ibn Khaldun al-ijtimaiyah: Tahleel wa naqd (Cairo: lajnat al-ta'leef w al-tarjama w al-nashr, 1925). Muhsin Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History: A Study in the Philosophic Foundation of the Science of Culture (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1957). Ali Al-Wardi, Mantiq Ibn Khaldun (London: Dar Kofan, 1994). Ali Al-Wardi, “A Sociological Analysis of Ibn Khaldun's Theory: A Study in the Sociology of Knowledge” (Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1950).
Edward Said, Reflection on the Exile and Other Literary and Cultural Essays, (London: Granta Books, 2001), 439.
Said, Reflection on the Exile, 445.
Said, Reflection on the Exile, 438.
Said, Reflection on the Exile, 436.
Mohamed Al-Jabri. Al-asabiyah wal-dawla (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1971).
Mohamed Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi al-arabi (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1990).
Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 254-260.
Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 195-196. See also Sati' Al-Husri, Dirasat a'n mokadimat Ibn Khaldun (Cairo: Dar Al-Maaraf, 1953).
Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, 439.
Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 165.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 7.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 13.
I do not use Al-Jabri's term the “Arab political mind” because of its cultural appropriation and orientalist implications.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 8.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 9.
Al-Jabri. Al-asabiyah, 254-260; Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 48-51.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 52.
Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 167.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 373.
Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 373.
Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1981).
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 123.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 123-124.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 130; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131-132; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 132; Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans. A. M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947).
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 210; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 211; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 207.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 228.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 198.
See Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince: And Other Writings (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1957), 180-183; Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Gramsci and the State (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1980), 357-361.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 120-121; emphasis in the original.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 120; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 211.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 210.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 121.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 197; emphasis added.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 198-199.
Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 179.
Nazih Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah fi misr (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1989).
Nazih Ayubi, Over-stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East (London: I. B. Tauris, 1995).
Ayubi, Over-stating, 143; emphasis in the original.
Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization, 288-289.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 70.
(119) Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, 543-545.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 29-30.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 29-30; 1993; Ayubi, Ala'rb wmshklah aldoulah.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 454.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 477.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 76.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 32-49; 1993; Amin 1978.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 175.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 183-187.
Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 14.
Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 76; Ayubi, Over-stating, 876.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 170.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 444; emphasis in the original.
Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 68-69. See also: Amin, The Arab Nation; Ahmed Sadiq Saad, Tarikh ala'rb alajtmaa'i: Thoul altkouin almisri mn alnmt alasyoui ila alnmt alra'smali (Beirut: Dar al-hadatha, 1981). Ahmed Sadiq Saad, Tarikh misr alajtmaa'i alaktsadi fi dhou'a alnmt ala'syoui llantjaj (Beirut: Dar Ibn Khaldun: 1979).
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 73.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 312.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 312.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 320.
Ayubi, Over-stating, 398; emphasis in the original.
Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 202-203.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] O. Anjum, Politics, Law and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 113, 124-127.

[2] See: K. Abdul-latif, Fi tashreeah usoul alastbdad: qera'ah fi nezam al-Adab al-Sultaniya (Beirut: Dar Al-Talia, 1999). A. Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-horiah (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1983). A. Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1981).

[3] A. Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat Ibn Khaldun, ed. and introduced by Ali Abdul Wahid Wafi (Cairo: Dar nahdet misr, [1950] 2014), 510 and after. This paper relies on Rosenthal's translation: Abdulrahman Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, trans. and introduced by Franz Rosenthal (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, [1967] 2015). However, this version misses six sections (or fasl in Arabic) of Ibn Khaldun's last version, including chapters on the repercussions of the state violence against the people of the cities (e.g., chapter 16, part 2, vol. 2). Parts that have been quoted from Wafi's version will be cited as Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, while the ones that quoted from Rosenthal's version will be cited as Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah.

[4] See: H. A. Gibb, Studies on the Civilization of Islam (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962). Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1789-1939 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962). Syed Farid Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).

[5] Edward Said, The World, the Text, and the Critic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983), 225-247.

[6] Said, The World, 226.

[7] Said, The World, 230.

[8] Said, The World, 227.

[9] Said, The World, 241.

[10] Said, The World, 226.

[11] Said, The World, 226.

[12] Said, The World, 237.

[13] Said, The World, 236.

[14] Said, The World, 241.

[15] György Lukács, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics (London: Merlin Press, [1923] 1975).

[16] Said, The World, 241-242.

[17] Said, The World, 241-242.

[18] Cf. Taha Hussein, Filsafat Ibn Khaldun al-ijtimaiyah: Tahleel wa naqd (Cairo: lajnat al-ta'leef w al-tarjama w al-nashr, 1925). Muhsin Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History: A Study in the Philosophic Foundation of the Science of Culture (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1957). Ali Al-Wardi, Mantiq Ibn Khaldun (London: Dar Kofan, 1994). Ali Al-Wardi, “A Sociological Analysis of Ibn Khaldun's Theory: A Study in the Sociology of Knowledge” (Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1950).

[19] Edward Said, Reflection on the Exile and Other Literary and Cultural Essays, (London: Granta Books, 2001), 439.

[20] Said, Reflection on the Exile, 445.

[21] Said, Reflection on the Exile, 438.

[22] Said, Reflection on the Exile, 436.

[23] Mohamed Al-Jabri. Al-asabiyah wal-dawla (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1971).

[24] Mohamed Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi al-arabi (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1990).

[25] Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 254-260.

[26] Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 195-196. See also Sati' Al-Husri, Dirasat a'n mokadimat Ibn Khaldun (Cairo: Dar Al-Maaraf, 1953).

[27] Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, 439.

[28] Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 165.

[29] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 7.

[30] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 13.

[31] I do not use Al-Jabri's term the “Arab political mind” because of its cultural appropriation and orientalist implications.

[32] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 8.

[33] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 9.

[34] Al-Jabri. Al-asabiyah, 254-260; Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 48-51.

[35] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 52.

[36] Al-Jabri, Al-asabiyah, 167.

[37] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 373.

[38] Al-Jabri, Al-aql al-siyassi, 373.

[39] Abdullah Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala (Casablanca: al-markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi, 1981).

[40] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 123.

[41] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 123-124.

[42] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 130; emphasis added.

[43] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131.

[44] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131; emphasis added.

[45] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 131-132; emphasis added.

[46] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 132; Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans. A. M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947).

[47] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 210; emphasis added.

[48] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 211; emphasis added.

[49] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 207.

[50] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 228.

[51] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 198.

[52] See Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince: And Other Writings (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1957), 180-183; Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Gramsci and the State (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1980), 357-361.

[53] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 120-121; emphasis in the original.

[54] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 120; emphasis added.

[55] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 211.

[56] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 210.

[57] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 121.

[58] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 197; emphasis added.

[59] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 198-199.

[60] Laroui, Mafhoum al-dawala, 179.

[61] Nazih Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah fi misr (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-'Arabiya, 1989).

[62] Nazih Ayubi, Over-stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East (London: I. B. Tauris, 1995).

[63] Ayubi, Over-stating, 143; emphasis in the original.

[64] Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization, 288-289.

[65] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 70.

[66] (119) Ibn Khaldun, Mokadimat, 543-545.

[67] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 29-30.

[68] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 29-30; 1993; Ayubi, Ala'rb wmshklah aldoulah.

[69] Ayubi, Over-stating, 454.

[70] Ayubi, Over-stating, 477.

[71] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 76.

[72] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 32-49; 1993; Amin 1978.

[73] Ayubi, Over-stating, 175.

[74] Ayubi, Over-stating, 183-187.

[75] Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 14.

[76] Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 76; Ayubi, Over-stating, 876.

[77] Ayubi, Over-stating, 170.

[78] Ayubi, Over-stating, 444; emphasis in the original.

[79] Ayubi, aldoulah almrkziah, 68-69. See also: Amin, The Arab Nation; Ahmed Sadiq Saad, Tarikh ala'rb alajtmaa'i: Thoul altkouin almisri mn alnmt alasyoui ila alnmt alra'smali (Beirut: Dar al-hadatha, 1981). Ahmed Sadiq Saad, Tarikh misr alajtmaa'i alaktsadi fi dhou'a alnmt ala'syoui llantjaj (Beirut: Dar Ibn Khaldun: 1979).

[80] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 73.

[81] Ayubi, Over-stating, 312.

[82] Ayubi, Over-stating, 312.

[83] Ayubi, Over-stating, 320.

[84] Ayubi, Over-stating, 398; emphasis in the original.

[85] Ayubi, Aldoulah almrkziah, 202-203.