Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Civilization

Ibn Khaldun is universally recognized as the founder and father of sociology and sciences of history. He is best known for his famous ‘Muqaddimah’. Abd al-Rahman Ibn Mohammad, generally known as Ibn Khaldun after a remote ancestor, was born in Tunis in 732 A.H. (1332 C.E.) to an upper class family that had migrated from Seville in Muslim Spain. His ancestors were Yemenite Arabs who settled in Spain in the very beginning of Muslim rule in the eighth century.

During his formative years, Ibn Khaldun experienced his family’s active participation in the intellectual life of the city, and to a lesser degree, its political life. He was used to frequent visits to his family by the political and intellectual leaders of western Islamic states (i.e., North Africa and Spain), many of whom took refuge there. Ibn Khaldun was educated at Tunis and Fez, and studied the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad’s Traditions and other branches of Islamic studies such as dialectical theology, Shari’a (Islamic Law of Jurisprudence, according to the Maliki School). He also studied Arabic literature, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. While still in his teens, he entered the service of the Egyptian ruler Sultan Barquq.

Ibn Khaldun led a very active political life before he finally settled down to write his well-known masterpiece on history. He worked for rulers in Tunis and Fez (in Morocco), Granada (in Muslim Spain) and Biaja (in North Africa). In 1375, Ibn Khaldun crossed over to Muslim Spain (Granada) as a tired and embittered man solely for the reasons of escaping the turmoil in North Africa. Unfortunately, because of his political past, the ruler of Granada expelled him. He then went back to Algeria to spend four years in seclusion in Qalat Ibn Salama, a small village. It was in Qalat he wrote Muqaddimah, the first volume of his world history that won him an immortal place among historians, sociologists and philosophers. The uncertainty of his career continued because of unrest in North Africa. Finally, he settled in Egypt where he spent his last twenty-four years. Here, he lived a life of fame and respect, marked by his appointment as the Chief Malakite Judge. He also lectured at the Al-Azhar University.

Ibn Khaldun had to move from one court to another, sometimes at his own will, but often forced to do so by plotting rivals or despotic rulers. He learnt much from his encounters with rulers, ambassadors, politicians and scholars from North Africa, Muslim Spain, Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world.

Ibn Khaldun is most famous for his book Muqaddimah. It is a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology. The main theme of this monumental work was to identify psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contribute to the advancement of human civilization and the currents of history. He analyzed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group feelings, al-‘Asabiyya, produce the ascent of a new civilization and political power. He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of the rise and fall in human civilization, and analyzed factors contributing to it.

Ibn Khaldun’s revolutionary views have attracted the attention of Muslim scholars as well as many Western thinkers. In his study of history, Ibn Khaldun was a pioneer in subjecting historical reports to the two basic criteria of reason and social and physical laws. He pointed out the following four essential points in the study and analysis of historical reports:(1) relating events to each other through cause and effect, (2) drawing analogy between past and present, (3) taking into consideration the effect of the environment, and (4) taking into consideration the effect of inherited and economic conditions.

Ibn Khaldun’s pioneered the critical study of history. He provided an analytical study of human civilization, its beginning, factors contributing to its development and the causes of decline. Thus, he founded a new science: the science of social development or sociology, as we call it today. Ibn Khaldun writes, “I have written on history a book in which I discussed the causes and effects of the development of states and civilizations, and I followed in arranging the material of the book an unfamiliar method, and I followed in writing it a strange and innovative way.” By selecting his particular method of analysis, he created two new sciences: Historiology and Sociology simultaneously.

Ibn Khaldun argued that history is subject to universal laws and states the criterion for historical truth: “The rule for distinguishing what is true from what is false in history is based on its possibility or impossibility: That is to say, we must examine human society and discriminate between the characteristics which are essential and inherent in its nature and those which are accidental and need not be taken into account, recognizing further those which cannot possibly belong to it. If we do this, we have a rule for separating historical truth from error by means of demonstrative methods that admits of no doubt. It is a genuine touchstone by which historians may verify whatever they relate.”

Because of his emphasis on reason and its necessity in judging history and social events, some scholars have claimed that Ibn Khaldun tried to refute conventional religious knowledge and substitute for it reason and rational philosophy. This claim is unfounded. It is known that some schools teach things which are irrational in nature. But this is not true of Islam which has always encouraged observation and thinking, and reminded the nonbelievers for not using their reason and thinking. An example is the Verse 164, Chapter 2 of the Qur’an: “Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the benefit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies; and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that he scatters through the earth; in the change of winds and the clouds which they trail like slaves between the sky and the earth; - (here) indeed are signs for people that are wise and think.”

Ibn Khaldun remarked that the role of religion is in unifying the Arabs and bringing progress and development to their society. He pointed out that injustice, despotism, and tyranny are clear signs of the downfall of the state. Ibn Khaldun points out that metaphysical philosophy has one advantage only, which is to sharpen one’s wits. He states that the knowledge of the metaphysical world particularly in matters of belief can only be derived from revelation.

Ibn Khaldun pointed out that true progress and development comes through correct understanding of history, and correct understanding can only be achieved by observing the following three main points. First, a historian should not be in any way prejudiced for or against any one or any idea. Second, he needs to conform and scrutinize the reported information. One should learn all one could about the historians whose reports one hears or reads, and one should check their morals and trustworthiness before accepting their reports. Finally, one should not limit history to the study of political and military news or to news about rulers and states. For history should include the study of all social, religious, and economic conditions.

Ibn Khaldun’s influence on the subject of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and education has remained paramount down to our times. He is also recognized as the leader in the art of autobiography, a renovator in the fields of education and educational psychology and in Arabic writing stylistics. His books have been translated into many languages, both in the East and the West, and have inspired subsequent development of these sciences.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Introducing Anthropology


The word ‘anthropology’ derives from the Greek and literally means ‘the study of man’ or ‘the science of man’. But the ‘man’ of anthropology was a special kind of ‘man’. Historically, anthropology was known as the ‘study of primitive man’.

In The Mind of Primitive Man (1938), Franz Boas, the founder of American Cultural Anthropology, delineated that primitive people are people whose forms of life are simple and uniform, and the contents and form of whose culture are meagre and intellectually inconsistent.

Anthropologists study people, individuals in the society. They study how people live, human society past and present. Anthropology is also about how we think about people thinking about people, now and in history. And sometimes it is about power relations between people, cultures and societies, colonialism and globalization. In brief, anthropology is: 1) the study of man from biological, cultural and social viewpoints; 2) the study of human cultural difference; 3) the search for generalizations about human culture and human nature; and 4) the comparative analysis of similarities and differences between cultures.

Today, anthropology is defined as the systematic study of the ‘other’ while all other social sciences are in some sense the study of the ‘self’. But who is the ‘other’? The ‘other’ is anyone perceived as different and used to ‘inter-define’ one’s own identity; or simply say people of non-Western cultures. Nevertheless, in Reinventing Anthropology (1969), Dell Hymes argued: “the very existence of an autonomous discipline that specializes in the study of ‘others’ has always been somewhat problematic.”

There are two things need to be highlighted. First, the ‘other’ has changed. Non-Western societies have undergone rapid social change. And second, anthropology has come home. It no longer exclusively studies non-Western cultures. Now anthropologists also study marginal cultures in the Western societies as well as institutional and organizational cultures, such as business and corporate organizations, scientists, health organizations, and the police.

Anthropology, as a modern discipline and a professional career, begins with the establishment of university’s departments teaching anthropology as a course. In America, Boas began lecturing at Columbia University in 1896. While in Britain, a new diploma in anthropology was introduced at Oxford in 1906. In Britain, the term ‘anthropology’ loosely designates a number of different branches of study which are more or less closely associated. Yet, sometimes the association derives rather from the historical fact that they developed as socio-cultural evolutionary studies of man. Thus physical anthropology, prehistoric archaeology, primitive technology, ethnology and ethnography are usually subsumed with social anthropology under the name of anthropology. Nevertheless, it is not true to say that they are not related to sociology because its problems and methods overlap with those of social anthropology in a considerable degree. Therefore, it is not surprising that the term ‘anthropology’ connotes different things to different people, even when it is assigned with the adjective ‘social’. As a consequence, social anthropology may mean an interest in bones and head measurements, a concern with prehistoric man and his works and also it may mean an obsessive interest in exotic, preferably sexual, customs.

Alan Barnard in History and Theory of Anthropology names the French philosopher Charles Montesquieu (1669-1755) as the common ancestor of all modern anthropology. Anthropology marks its inauguration in 1748 with the publication of his The Spirits of the Laws. It is a product of the enlightenment. Then the Darwinian horizon flourished in the 1860s when great names, such as Sir Henry Sumner Maine, Lewis Henry Morgan, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, and Sir James Frazer, define the intellectual tradition that leads to modern anthropology. When Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown established the practice of ethnography, the extended study of how people live and where they live, modern anthropology is underway.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Kelmarin....


“Hey are you serious?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure….”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t say anything, being silent since that day….”
“Perhaps she needs more time to ponder….”
“Yeah you are right. She needs time so that she can escape. She has been telling that for how many times. And I think this is the time that she will do what she says….”
“Come on. Don’t be so negative….”
“No I’m not. I’m just telling you the truth….”
“Erk. The truth??”
“Yeah. The truth that she is leaving me…”
“Haih… Apalah you nie. I think you need to give her more time to think, more time for herself, to be alone. Janganlah fikir bukan-bukan…”
“Don’t you get it? Aku tak fikir bukan-bukan. Itulah kenyataannya. I know it was my mistake, I should not ask her that question…”
“Nolah. It was not your mistake. Semua orang tahu perangai ko. Semua orang yang rapat dengan ko faham perangai ko. Ko tue sengal. Benda dah jelas lagi mahu tanya. Tapi nak buat macam mana, that’s what we call variations of human behaviour. Orang faham senanglah, cuma orang yang tak faham ajer susah….”
“Entah…. I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s true that I was meant to be alone…”
“Laaa… You are not alone lah. You still have us…”
“I’m gonna miss her….”
“Dahlah. That’s her decision. Semua orang buat silap. Ko buat silap, dia pun buat silap. Takda manusia yang perfect. Kalau nak cari yang perfect, Nabi ajerlah yang perfect. Even dia pun tak perfect….”
“Dahlah. Malas nak pikir.......”

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Love Is Gone!!


Now that the love is gone!

What are we supposed to do
After all that we’ve been through
When everything that felt so right is wrong
Now that the love is gone? Love is gone.

What are we supposed to do
After all that we’ve been through
When everything that felt so right is wrong
Now that the love is gone?
There is nothing left to prove
No use to deny this simple truth
Can’t find the reason to keep holding on
Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Now that the love is gone, what felt so right’s so wrong
Now that the love is gone
I feel so hurt inside, feel so hurt inside, got to find the reason

What are we supposed to do
After all that we’ve been through
When everything that felt so right is wrong
Now that the love is gone?
There is nothing left to prove
No use to deny this simple truth
Can’t find the reason to keep holding on
Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Got to find a reason, got to find a reason,
Got to find a reason to hold!

Love, there’s nothing left for us to say, yeah!
Love, why can’t we turn and walk away?

What are we supposed to do
After all that we’ve been through
When everything that felt so right is wrong
Now that the love is gone?
There is nothing left to prove
No use to deny this simple truth
Can’t find the reason to keep holding on
Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Love is gone!