Ab-Ar-Rahman ibn Khaldūn, the Muslim statesman, historian, philosopher of history, sociologist, and political thinker of the fourteenth century, is probably the greatest creative genius produced by Muslim civilization. To Arnold Toynbee, Ibn Khaldūn's philosophy of history "is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place."

Ibn Khaldūn was born in Tunis into a family of southern Arabian origin that had immigrated to Andalusia in the eighth century. With the decline of Muslim rule in Spain the family immigrated to northwest Africa, establishing itself first in Morocco and then in Tunisia. Muslim emigrants from Spain constituted an aristocracy in the Maghreb, and the Khaldūn family won fame in scholarship and statesmanship.

Ibn Khaldūn surpassed the achievements of all the members of...