Ibn Khaldun’s contribution and its criticism: a Sociological review

Abstract

This article discussed that Ibn Khaldun contributed basic theories to sociology, four centuries prior to Auguste Comte. In the sociological discourse, a numerous attempts have been extensively made by the scholars to consider and study about Western sociologists’ work, rather than that of theory and concept put forwarded by the Islamic Arab philosopher Inb Khaldun. This study analyzed the intellectual contribution of Ibn Khaldun to the field of sociology in 14th century. The major discussions have been made based on the secondary information, and result and finding were presented using interpretative method. The human civilization, social change, conflict, social integration (asabiyah), political organization, and theory of economic growth, transformation between rural and urban societies and cyclical theory of political system and government, were presented in this paper as a major contribution of Ibn Khaldun to the discipline of sociology. Further, this study described the legacy of his theories and criticisms made against his work. This study primarily has been undertaken to present intellectual sociological contribution of Ibn Khaldun.