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Kitab al-ibar, wa diwan al-mobtadae wa al-khabar

Inscribed 2011

What is it

The fifth volume of Kitab al-ibar, a major work on the history of social organization and on the history of Arab Muslim countries.

Why was it inscribed

The book’s author, Ibn Khaldoun, is regarded as the father of sociology and cultural history. This volume was donated by him to the library of al-Quaraouiyine University in Fez, where it still remains.

Where is it

Library of al-Quaraouiyine University, Fez, Morocco

This particular manuscript is the fifth volume of seven of one of the most important treatises on history, written by Ibn Khaldoun in the late 14th century. This complete manuscript is about social and political history and contains profound reflections on the logic of the emergence, constitution and decay of states. It is considered as a pioneering work in sociology, as a treatise of political philosophy and a major work of history in general and of the Arab Muslim countries in particular. Its full title can be translated as The Book of Exemplaries (or Admonitions or Precepts) and the Collection of Origins and Information respecting the History of the Arabs, Foreigners and Berbers and Others who possess Great Power. It is sometimes referred to as The Universal History.

The first volume, the Muqaddimah (the Prolegomena), is the most renowned volume, in which Ibn Khaldoun develops his thoughts on social organization through the study of nomadism, urbanization and the rise and fall of rulers and dynasties. Volumes II–V cover the history of mankind up to the time of Ibn Khaldoun, while Volumes VI and VII cover the history of the Berbers of the Maghreb.

Ibn Khaldoun (Abu Zayd ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldoun al-Hadhrami, 1332–1406) was born in Tunis and served a number of rulers in North Africa and Granada, finally settling in Cairo, where he was a teacher, judge and political adviser. In 1396 he gave instructions that a copy of Volume V of Kitab al-ibar be made for the library of al-Quaraouiyine University in Fez, and the dedication mentions that students should benefit from consulting and copying it, but that it may not be borrowed for more than a month at a time. The university was established in the late 9th century, while the library was founded in 1349 and is one of the oldest libraries in Morocco. This unique volume remains there to this day.

The fifth volume of Ibn Khaldoun’s Kitab al-ibar, a major historical work, which the author donated to the library of al-Quaraouiyine University in Fez in 1396.