The Scholar and the Sultan: A Translation of the Historic Encounter between Ibn Khaldun and Timur

Timur[b] or Tamerlane[c] (8 April 1336[7] – 17–19 February 1405) was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history, as well as one of the most brutal and deadly.[8][9][10] Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun, Hafez, and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance.[11]

Ibn Khaldun (/ˈɪbən hælˈduːn/ IH-bun hal-DOON; Arabic: أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, Abū Zayd ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī, Arabic: [ibn xalduːn]; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 AH) was an Arab sociologist, philosopher, and historian[11][12] widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages,[13] and considered by many to be the father of historiography, sociology, economics, and demography studies.[14][15][note 1][16][note 2]

1. We first read an excerpt from Ibn Khaldun, a great historian of the Muslim world. His family came from Muslim Spain, but he was born in North Africa. He spent many years working in the administrations of local rulers, until he eventually moved to Egypt, where he died in 1406. We will encouter him quite often in this course and will discuss his life in week 6. This week, we turn to his famous book The Muqaddimah (or, Introduction), in which he lays out his vision of history, its patterns and purpose. In the excerpt that we read this week he is trying to make sense of a question that should bother us too: how were the Arabs (meaning, pre-Islamic Arabs, not Arabs in the modern sense), a fragmented society, able to conquer the known world and establish their rule over it? What do you think of his answer, is it any good? 2. The other source we read this week is by another famous Muslim historian, al-Tabari. al-Tabari was originally from Iran, but lived most of his life in Baghdad, where he died in 923. He wrote a massive historical work, History of Messengers (or Prophets) and Kings, in which he collected all he knew about the world from its creation to his days. Translated into English in its entirety this work takes up 40 volumes. When we say that al-Tabari wrote this book, we need to understand that his role was often that of an editor, not an author: he selected, arranged and edited accounts that he found in the works of others. Usually, he names his sources. In the excerpt we read today, al-Tabari is telling what happened before a major battle between the Persians (representing the Sasanian Empire) and the Arabs, the battle of Qadisiyya that took place in the mid-630s (perhaps, in 636). On the eve of the battle, the Persians want to talk and the Arabs (Muslims) send an envoy. Here you have a vivid account of how this messenger arrives to the assembled Persians. Historically this encounter is not important: the battle took place regardless and the Arabs won. But the narrative is significant for how it shows the values of the two sides involved in the fight. So what are these values? For the Arab side, to what extent are their ethnic (that's the way Arabs are) and to what extent religious (that's the way Muslims are)?