In his acclaimed biography «Ibn Khaldûn: Itinerary of a Maghrebi Thinker», historian Mehdi Ghouirgate delves into the life of the 14th-century philosopher, tracing his journey through the Maghreb, Al-Andalus, and Egypt amidst the backdrop of the Black Death and political upheaval. Awarded by the French Academy, Ghouirgate's work underscores Ibn Khaldûn's foundational contributions to the social sciences, highlighting his family's storied lineage and the profound impact of regional dynamics on his intellectual evolution. DR ‹ › In his biography devoted to Ibn Khaldûn (1332–1406), French-Moroccan historian Mehdi Ghouirgate firmly situates the medieval thinker within his historical and geographical context, spanning the Maghreb, Al-Andalus, and 14th-century Egypt. Awarded by the French Academy for the rigor of what is considered one of the most comprehensive contemporary studies of the philosopher, Ibn Khaldûn: Itinerary of a Maghrebi Thinker (CNRS Editions, 2025) traces a trajectory that, in the author's words, «embraces the contours of a world in crisis, one that the Black Death thrust into a new era». Through this lens, Ghouirgate highlights how space, mobility, and political upheaval shaped Ibn Khaldûn's intellectual evolution and political thought, laying the foundations of what would later be recognized as the social sciences. Born in Tunis, Ibn Khaldûn is portrayed through a life marked by movement: from Fez to Al-Andalus, the «land of ancestors», then to Béjaïa, Tlemcen, a troubled return to Tunis, and finally exile in Cairo. As Christian power advanced in the Iberian Peninsula, his family left Al-Andalus for Ceuta, before settling successively in Béjaïa and Tunis. The devastation wrought by the Black Death and the demographic collapse of Ifriqiya, the eastern Maghreb, eventually pushed the thinker to seek protection under the Marinid dynasty in Fez, a strategic center of the Muslim West connecting the Maghreb, the Sudanese lands, and the remnants of Muslim Andalusia. In present-day Morocco, Ibn Khaldûn left behind a scientific legacy carefully preserved at Al-Quaraouiyine University and deeply studied in the Souss region, where Kitâb al-ʿIbar (The Book of Examples) attracted sustained scholarly interest. Ghouirgate, professor at the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne and associate professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), places these regional influences at the heart of Ibn Khaldûn's intellectual formation, showing how local political dynamics decisively shaped his family trajectory and scholarly outlook. In this sense, the historian notes that Ibn Khaldûn's own account of his life immediately situates him within «the grand history of the Muslim world». A Family of Andalusi Notables Ghouirgate recalls that Ibn Khaldûn traced his lineage to Wâ'il Ibn Hujr, a Yemeni prince sent as a delegate to the Prophet of Islam and regarded as «the first Yemeni convert to Islam». Amid the political turmoil of early Islam, Wâ'il is said to have settled in Kufa and opposed the Umayyad caliph Muʿâwiya Ibn Abî Sufyân (661–680). «From then on, the family of Ibn Khaldûn was linked to the Umayyads, initially in opposition. According to Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), at the time of the conquest of al-Andalus, one of Ibn Khaldûn's ancestors, Khâlid Ibn ʿUthmân, was a member of the Yemeni contingent. Once again, the name connotes the bond uniting the Banû Khaldûn with those who came to embody the identity of al-Andalus, namely the Umayyads (756–1031)», writes the historian. He explains that «it is to this eponymous ancestor that the family of Ibn Khaldûn is linked on an onomastic level». Further on, the author emphasizes that from the 8th to the early 10th century, «the Banû Khaldûn were settled in Carmona», and shows how, from there, the ancestors of the thinker rose to prominence as notables in Seville. He notes that, «to bolster the nobility of his origins», Ibn Khaldûn also invokes «Ibn Hayyân (d. 1076), considered in the 14th century as the chronicler par excellence of the history of al-Andalus, from its genesis to the taifa kingdoms, through the supposed golden age of the Umayyad caliphate». «Today lost, the work of Ibn Hayyân was partially preserved in later writings, such as those of al-Maqqarî (d. 1632). This later author deemed it appropriate to transcribe an excerpt that valorized these two authorities, Ibn Hayyân and Ibn Khaldûn, who were thus embedded within one another: 'The house of the Banû Khaldûn is still extremely famous in Seville today; its most eminent members have always held a prominent position among politicians and scholars,'» writes Mehdi Ghouirgate. Earlier still, everything appears to begin with the «difficulties encountered by the Umayyad emirs of Córdoba at the end of the 4th century». Abû Hâni Kurayb Ibn Khaldûn, one of Ibn Khaldûn's distant relatives, attempted to «seize power by leading a rebellion». He relied on the support of «members of powerful Arab lineages», among whom the Banû Khaldûn were counted and who controlled prosperous territories, but the failed uprising ultimately cost him his life. This episode marks «the beginning of the history of this family as notables settled in Seville», where the Banû Khaldûn would «take advantage of the weakening of Umayyad power to acquire a predominant position». Referring to the Book of the Repartition of Goods (Repartimiento) compiled by the Castilians «in the aftermath of the conquest of 1248», Mehdi Ghouirgate recounts that the family's ancestors owned vast tracts of agricultural land, including the villages of Borg Aben-Haldoun and Torre Aben-Haldoun, as well as «a stronghold in the Aljarafe, a region known as one of the largest olive oil producers in the Iberian Peninsula, which formed the backbone of Seville's prosperity and exports». Mehdi Ghouirgate Also citing the panegyrist of the Almohad dynasty, Ibn Sâhib as-Salât (d. after 1190), Mehdi Ghouirgate further notes that «the esplanade adjacent to the Great Mosque of Seville, the Giralda, bore the name Esplanade Ibn Khaldûn (Rahbat Ibn Khaldûn), probably in memory of this aristocratic lineage that owned property in the city as well as in the surrounding countryside». While on a diplomatic mission to Seville, at the court of Peter the Cruel (1350–1369), King of Castile, Ibn Khaldûn was even offered the prospect of «restoring his family's assets in exchange for his allegiance». Ambiguous Relations with the Ancestral Land On the «land of ancestors», the Maghrebi thinker «was commissioned to take part in an embassy sent to Peter the Cruel», in what had once been the great Almohad capital, now newly conquered by Christian forces. In Granada, Ibn Khaldûn was also invited by a figure regarded as «the greatest man of letters of his time, his mentor but also his direct competitor»: the Granadan vizier Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatîb (1313–1374). From his genealogy, it emerges that Ibn Khaldûn's ancestors «moved from the periphery to the center, from Yemen to Kufa, the first Islamic capital outside Arabia, and from Carmona, a city of modest stature, to Seville, which from the 11th century onward became the metropolis of al-Andalus», notes Mehdi Ghouirgate. It is this «cyclical conception of history», inherited from his lineage, that the thinker appears to follow, in step with the rise and fall of Muslim dynasties and the shifting centers of political, religious, and intellectual power. Taking travel and mobility as a guiding thread, the historian writes that «Ibn al-Khatîb, as a true arbiter of elegance, recognized in Ibn Khaldûn all the qualities required to be admitted into the entourage of the Nasrid sultan». Through this relationship, we learn that the Maghrebi intellectual excelled in the composition of occasional poetry, displaying a refined ability to «think poetry with a certain depth», notably when producing a «commentary on one of the most famous poems in praise of the Prophet, al-Burda (The Mantle), composed by al-Bûsîrî (d. 1294)». Ibn Khaldûn also composed poems «on the occasion of the Festival of the Prophet's Birth (al-mawlid an-nabawî ash-sharîf)», an event that coincided with his arrival in Granada. Echoing a subtle «summons» inviting the intellectual to prove himself in order to enter the «circle of Granadan literati», these contributions, and others, demonstrate his analytical acuity and attest to «his mastery of the language, underpinned by his qualities as a seasoned philologist». In this regard, he drew upon «the discipline of metrics (ʿarûd) and critical commentary on the meaning of particular verses, whose interpretation required careful discernment». «During literary sessions, Ibn Khaldûn had to demonstrate his profound mastery of grammar, while also comparing it with other renowned poems cited throughout the exercise. The celebrations, beginning with the mawlîd, gave rise to poetic jousts among courtiers, who wove verses around the birth of the Prophet and composed his panegyric», writes Mehdi Ghouirgate. Contacted by Yabiladi, the historian explains that, in light of the political transformations leading up to the fall of Granada in 1492, the medieval intellectual's relationship with the land of his ancestors remained «ambiguous». «During his journey to Al-Andalus, whether alongside Ibn al-Khatîb or with a Jewish minister who pursued a career in Fez, Granada, and Seville—by the name of Ibn Zarzar—he also mingled with bilingual figures who mastered both Arabic and Castilian. This bicultural dimension gave them access to Christian Europe. It offered him an opportunity to engage in what might be called an anachronistic form of comparative history, which in itself attests to his sagacity and exceptional insight». From this immersion, Ibn Khaldûn observes that «the Christians have surpassed us through the rise of instruction in the rational sciences, particularly philosophy», alongside the dissemination of knowledge via European universities such as Padua, Cambridge, and La Sorbonne. At the same time, he notes a decline in the Maghreb, «even a near disappearance», of these disciplines. He goes on to explain the structural causes behind this shift, situating them within the expansionist phase of Christian Europe. Implicitly, he warns of the looming twilight of the Muslim world when confronted with a formidable rival, armed with knowledge and institutional strength. Employing the louha as a metaphor, an allusion to the Muslim war fleet struggling to assert control over the Mediterranean, he suggests that this configuration had reached its limits when faced with a dominant power. «By definitively leaving the Maghreb for exile in Egypt, he boarded an Italian Genoese vessel that carried him from Tunis to Alexandria. This illustrates how relations among Muslims themselves were, at that time, dependent on Christian fleets. Al-Andalus offered him a lens through which to place his own history in perspective», Mehdi Ghouirgate tells us. A Changing Perception between East and West Beyond the biographical dimensions of Ibn Khaldûn's life, Mehdi Ghouirgate also examines how his work was received in his native Maghreb, in the Eastern Islamic world, and eventually within European intellectual circles, positioning him as one of the rare thinkers from the region to achieve a lasting global resonance, particularly in relation to the Western world. Sailing ship on the high seas / Painting: Vladimir Koval «It must be understood that this dissemination depends on both the level of readers and their number. This is one aspect of what I call the great divergence between Europe and the Islamic world in general, and the Maghreb in particular. While printing, Protestantism, and the age of revolutions produced, for the first time in human history in Europ, a majority population capable of reading, the Maghreb, for a very long period, up until the last century, remained marked by mass illiteracy», explains Mehdi Ghouirgate. Unsurprisingly, the circulation of Ibn Khaldûn's thought therefore took place «around several hundred copies of the same work». «Having lived both in the Maghreb and in the East, particularly in Egypt, he was known to the two essential components of the deep Arab world and beyond», the historian stresses. He highlights the context of the Ottoman conquest and the rise of bilingual scholars, through whom the Turks developed an early interest in Ibn Khaldûn, translating his works several years after his death in 1407. «We therefore observe a differentiated reception. In the East, under Ottoman rule and following the invasion of Cairo in 1517, Ibn Khaldûn came to be regarded as the great thinker of decline. He was the one who enabled reflection and offered interpretative tools for understanding the decay of the Ottoman Empire, which viewed itself as the embodiment of Islam», Mehdi Ghouirgate tells us. In the Maghreb, the study of the Book of Examples also served as a means of understanding and projecting oneself «into a distant past marked by grandeur, civilizational ascent, and a moment when the region was at least as powerful as Christian Europe». This divergence shows that the meaning attributed to the reception and dissemination of Ibn Khaldûn's work must itself be situated within the political, historical, and spatial contexts in which it unfolded. Born in Granada against the backdrop of the decline of the last Muslim strongholds in al-Andalus, and deceased between 1527 and 1555 in Tunis, Hassan al-Wazzan, known in Europe as Leo Africanus, would play a decisive role in introducing the thought of the Maghrebi intellectual to Christian Europe. The author of Description of Africa, a foundational reference on the medieval southern Mediterranean, maintained deep ties with Fez, the former capital of Ifriqiya, and Egypt. Leo Africanus introduces Ibn Khaldûn to Christian Europe Born to Andalusian Muslim parents, Hassan al-Wazzan and his family sought refuge in Fez, where he is said to have studied before entering the service of the Marinid sultans. A diplomatic traveler who worked in notarial roles and memorized the Qur'an at an early age, he left Morocco in 1515 for Istanbul, before arriving in Cairo in 1517. From there, he journeyed up the Nile to Aswan, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and traveled through Central Africa, Arabia, and Armenia. On his return voyage in 1519, his ship was captured by Sicilian pirates. Transported from Naples to Rome, he was imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo and presented as a slave to Pope Leo X. Portrait of Leo Africanus Catechized during his captivity, Leo Africanus was baptized by Pope Leo X, who bestowed his name upon him, according to historical accounts. His conversion secured his freedom and elevated him to the rank of Renaissance man of letters, under papal protection. In this regard, Mehdi Ghouirgate emphasizes that «it is precisely because Ibn Khaldûn occupies such a central position in the configuration of knowledge in the Maghreb that Leo Africanus is the first to cite him as an authoritative reference, drawing on him extensively». «In other words, Jean-Léon Africanus built his intellectual stature by mobilizing the reasoning and discursive framework of Ibn Khaldûn—particularly on languages, processes of linguistic substitution, the role of nomads, and the linguistic makeup of the Maghreb. This dimension, now regarded as anachronistic when compared to the original intentions of the Maghrebi thinker, nonetheless underscores the growing European interest in customs, lifestyles, and descriptive knowledge, at a time when expansionist Europe sought to better understand overseas societies». According to the researcher, «it is through this initial lens that Jean-Léon Africanus enabled an increasingly numerous European readership, embedded within an increasingly expansionist political entity, to gain a deeper understanding of the Maghreb: its history, its languages, and its peoples», by foregrounding «the only great classical thinker of Islam not discovered by Europe during the Middle Ages, and whose name was never naturalized».
