And the nature of knowledge is also a second, decisive difference between Ibn Khaldun and networked other cosmopolitan elites of his day. In all aspects of his labor, Ibn Khaldun accepted, and often applauded, the achievements of his predecessors, the vast of a knowledge class (the who undergirded network ‘ulama) Muslim society, but at the same time he introduced a difference. In order to establish his new science, Ibn Khaldun the jurist had to both affirm his own practice of Tradition criticism (based on bayan) while allowing for an empirical approach human social organization (based on the cornerstone, in his view, of a global civilization that encompassed the known world burhan), (al-ma‘mura min al-‘ard). In effect, he used his talent as an adib to further his project as a faqih, invoking the law while opening it up to a new arena of thought. It was his forensic skill as a litterateur that allowed him to cite Event (khabar), itself an ancillary part of Tradition (hadith) scholarship, as an independent term conveying the surplus of meaning that he wanted to impart to the study of human social organization or the history of world civilization. Demarcating Tradition from Event, while affirming both, became the pathway to his new science. Many have described Ibn Khaldun’s new science as critical history, comparative sociology or even supply side economics. I think that another descriptor is necessary. It is not only fitting but also overdue to acknowledge Ibn Khaldun as a Muslim cosmopolitan. The proof? The proof is what we have just described: his subtle, consistent use of language to further empirical observation as the cornerstone for networked knowledge. The Interlude of Euro-American Ascent From the 11th century Ghaznavid courts of Biruni to the 14th century Hafsid courts of Ibn Khaldun is a leap of time and space but all within the continuum of a Muslim imperium that had its benefits as well as constraints. The notion of parity that had existed in the premodern oecumene changed with the advent of European exploration, expansion, overseas conquest, and then colonization of vast parts of Asia and Africa. The impact on Islam and Islamic civilization from the 16th to the 21st century resulted in a deficit for Muslim
And the nature of networked knowledge is also a second, decisive difference between Ibn Khaldun and other cosmopolitan elites of his day. In all aspects of his labor, Ibn Khaldun accepted, and often applauded, the achievements of his predecessors, the vast network of a knowledge class (the ‘ulama) who undergirded Muslim society, but at the same time he introduced a difference. In order to establish his new science, Ibn Khaldun the jurist had to both affirm his own practice of Tradition criticism (based on bayan) while allowing for an empirical approach human social organization (based on burhan), the cornerstone, in his view, of a global civilization that encompassed the known world (al-ma‘mura min al-‘ard). In effect, he used his talent as an adib to further his project as a faqih, invoking the law while opening it up to a new arena of thought. It was his forensic skill as a litterateur that allowed him to cite Event (khabar), itself an ancillary part of Tradition (hadith) scholarship, as an independent term conveying the surplus of meaning that he wanted to impart to the study of human social organization or the history of world civilization. Demarcating Tradition from Event, while affirming both, became the pathway to his new science. Many have described Ibn Khaldun’s new science as critical history, comparative sociology or even supply side economics. I think that another descriptor is necessary. It is not only fitting but also overdue to acknowledge Ibn Khaldun as a Muslim cosmopolitan. The proof? The proof is what we have just described: his subtle, consistent use of language to further empirical observation as the cornerstone for networked knowledge. The Interlude of Euro-American Ascent From the 11th century Ghaznavid courts of Biruni to the 14th century Hafsid courts of Ibn Khaldun is a leap of time and space but all within the continuum of a Muslim imperium that had its benefits as well as constraints. The notion of parity that had existed in the premodern oecumene changed with the advent of European exploration, expansion, overseas conquest, and then colonization of vast parts of Asia and Africa. The impact on Islam and Islamic civilization from the 16th to the 21st century resulted in a deficit for Muslim
braislecture.10april2014.finaldraft.31mar_1.docx