Ibn Khaldun (1332-1395)

General Influence

• Influence on the subjects of

history, philosophy of history,
sociology, political science and
education

• Muqaddimah considered in league

with and rival of Machiavelli’s The
Prince (written a century later)
 URBANISATION AND
URBANISM AS A MODE
OF LIFE
 1. URBANISATION
• Urbanisation (tamadun) is an expected
social phenomenon; it is the goal of badw
(nomadic and rural people) who aspire to
lead a life of ease, tranquility and luxury.
• Establishing a state may mean
establishing a city, e.g. Baghdad and
Cairo.
• Establishing a city, 3 stages: 1.
youthfulness, 2. maturity, 3. senility
Requirements for Town Planning
• To establish towns as dwelling places: “all the
conveniences…made available.”
• The specific requirements: “differ in importance
according to the different needs and the
necessity that exists for them on the part of the
inhabitants.”
1.The town should be situated in an accessible
place, either upon a rugged hill or surrounded
by a sea or by a river, so tha it can be reached
only by crossing some sort of bridge, thereby
making an enemy overtaking difficult.
2. The air or the atmosphere should be safe from
illness. It “is confirmed by direct observation that
towns where no attention is paid to good air,
have, as a rule, much illness
3. Adequate transportation facilities, such as a
river or a sea, are necessary to import essential
and useful things.
4. Springs with plenty of fresh water
5. Good pastures for the livestock of the
inhabitants.
6. Near the residential areas, fields suitable for
cultivation.
• IK realized these requirements differ in
importance – needs and the necessity that exist
• The construction of cities cannot be achieved
except through the following
1.United effort
2.A great no. of workers (when the state is large and
far-flung), “workers are brought together from all
regions, and their labour is employed in a common
effort”
3.Cooperation of the workers and craftsmen
4.The use of machines, wh9ch may be needed to
“multiply the power and strength needed to carry
the loads required in building”
5.“engineering skills”
• IK believed that the reasons for the comparatively
few buildings and construction in Islam were:
1.The Arabs in the beginning of their civilization were
nomadic and unfamiliar with the crafts
2.Islam forbids the Arabs “to do any excessive
building or to waste too much money on building
activities for no purpose
3.Paying “little attention in town planning to making
the right choice with regard to the site of the town,
the quality of the air, the water, the fields and the
pastures belonging to it.” IK cited Kufah and Basra
– he made a mistake here; Basra is now the 2nd
largest city in Iraq.
 Size and density
• Cities differ in size.
• IK: depends on a variety of factors, the most
important one is migration. Reasons for
migration include:
1.The conquest and the subsequent settlement of
the conquerors in the city
2.Luxury: encourages people to “move to city”
3.The satisfaction of human needs by utilizing
many facilities which the city provides
4. Economic pull, for the city economy is an index
to city size
5. The dependence of people on the “support
and protection of a powerful state” whose
capital is usually an urban area.

IK: Relationship between social organisation of

the city, population increase and the
consequent population pressure and
problems; similar to the descriptions of
classical and recent social scientists (Emile
Durkheim, Louis Wirth).
• IK ideas on large cities; population increase
indicates that the city will have to extend farther
to include areas previously not utilized for living.
− E.g. Baghdad: similar to the process of
suburbanization.
• Decline of urban population:
1.coercion by the subjects by “bad govt” which
occurs when revenues decrease
2.Numerous “famines,” particularly when people
under a “bad govt” refrain from cultivating the
soil
3.Plagues, mainly as a result of polluted air
through too large a population
II. URBANISM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• IK: the “city is large and densely populated and
unlimited in the variety of its conditions.” –
coordination of urban activities is indispensable.
− To support the necessity of life
− To supply for luxury in highly developed urban
areas
• Population growth – increase in both labour and
number of craftsmen. Thus, industry and crafts
thrive.
• Demands for luxuries means the refinement
and development of crafts.
• E.g. For IK, even the planting of fruitless
trees of any kind in urban setting was a
sign of extreme luxury, thereby indicating
the nation’s approaching decline.
− E.g. Excessive luxury: beggars in large
cities are better off than beggars in small
urban areas.
• Because of the luxury and tranquility he
enjoys, the urban person becomes too
weak to take care of his needs personally.
“luxury corrupts the character” and the
religion of the urbanite.
• “Immorality, wrongdoing, insincerity and trickery
for the purpose of making a living in a proper or
improper manner increase among [the
urbanites]. People are now devoted to lying,
gambling, cheating, fraud, theft, perjury and
usury.”

• Sexual deviant behaviour is also a

consequence of urbanism and a cause for the
decline of the civilization.