Literature and Ibn Khaldoun

Abstract

Ibn Khaldoun is a scholar characterized by his special philosophy wrote

in several fields, like literature, criticism and sociology. However, the present

study concentrates on four literary and critical issues which influenced his

age and the preceding ages; Ibn khaldoun was very well-informed with an

encyclopedic knowledge. He lived in a tumultuary, unstable period which

forced him to immigrate to more than one country, deal with more than one

monarchy and occupy various posts, Those ever-changing circumstances

were reflected in his imitative of others literary production. Therefore, he

did not specialize in one field. Sometimes, he tended to imitate old writers

and scholars in dealing with phonetics and semantics as well as \\in verse

and prose. Never the less, he was a pioneer in perceiving and defining poetry,

and he had an explicit opinion regarding new pop and literary arts like

mowashahat, mowawil, azjal and alkan-kan. He used to quote phrases which

showed his interaction with the spirit of the text. He was not influenced by

the opinions rejecting those arts just for being unconventional.

Despite that, he demonstrated an Arab mentality and a rational attitude

in presenting thoughts relevant to politics and sociology.

In brief, he was imitative in some topics but creative in others. More importantly,

he was unique in encyclopedic knowledge unrivalled both in his

age and the subsequent ages.