Rihlat Ibn Khaldun

Rihlat Ibn Khaldun (known fully as al-Ta'rif bi-Ibn Khaldun wa-rihlatuhu gharban wa-sharqan, "Introduction to Ibn Khaldun and His Journey West and East") is the autobiography and travel account of the historian and Maliki jurist Ibn Khaldun (732–808 AH / 1332–1406 CE) Mujam al-Shuara al-Arab+1.

Composition and Context

The work originally formed the concluding chapter of Ibn Khaldun's universal history, Kitab al-'Ibar, where he set out his genealogy, personal history, and the contemporary events tied to his life Mujam al-Shuara al-Arab+1. He subsequently detached this section, expanded it in detail, and turned it into an independent appendix (dhayl) to al-'Ibar, titling it al-Ta'rif bi-Ibn Khaldun, mu'allif al-kitab, wa-rihlatuhu gharban wa-sharqan Mujam al-Shuara al-Arab+1.

Scope and Contents

The narrative traces Ibn Khaldun's lineage back to the Arab companion Wa'il ibn Hujr of Hadramawt, recording the migration of his family from Seville to Tunis during the mid-7th century AH amid Christian advances Rihlat Ibn Khaldun+1. The book documents his early life, studies, and political appointments across North Africa and al-Andalus, including his administrative and secretarial service for the Marinid rulers Sultan Abu 'Inan and Sultan Abu Salim in Fez, and his service under Sultan Ibn al-Ahmar in Granada Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l…+1. It recounts his close relationship with the Granadan vizier Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib, an embassy to the King of Castile in Seville, political rivalries, and his subsequent imprisonment in the Maghrib Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l…+1.

Ibn Khaldun also describes his four-year retirement at the fortress of Qal'at Bani Salama in western Algeria, where he wrote his Muqaddimah, before returning to Tunis to consult library references and present his history to the Hafsid sultan with an encomium in verse Majallat al-Risala+1. Leaving Tunis in 784 AH ostensibly for the pilgrimage, he arrived in Cairo, where Sultan al-Zahir Barquq honoured him and appointed him Maliki chief judge (qadi al-qudah), a position he held several times amid administrative opposition al-Badr al-Tali bi-Mahasi…+1. The autobiography covers the drowning of his family in a shipwreck during their crossing from Tunis to Egypt, his teaching sessions at the al-Azhar Mosque, and his eventual journey to Damascus in 803 AH during its siege by Timur (Tamerlane) Mujam al-Muallifin+1. Ibn Khaldun documents his historic face-to-face negotiations with Timur, his discourse on social cohesion ('asabiyyah), and the twelve-quire geographical report on the Maghrib that he wrote for Timur, which was subsequently translated into Mongolian Majallat al-Risala.

Literary Style and Publication

In al-Ta'rif, Ibn Khaldun reflects on his prose style, remarking that while serving Sultan Abu Salim in the chancery (insha'), he chose to write diplomatic letters in plain, unrhymed prose (al-kalam al-mursal) rather than the ornate, heavily rhymed prose (saj') prevalent among contemporary scribes Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l….

The work has been published independently from Ibn Khaldun's autograph manuscript in an edition prepared by the scholar Muhammad ibn Tawit al-Tanji (Cairo, 1951) Nukat wa Tanbihat fi Tafs…+1.