ibn khaldun on the aspects of making a living: a socio-economic analysis
TRANSCRIPT
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Ibn Khaldun on the Aspects o Making a
Living: A Socio-Economic Analysis
Dewan Mahboob Hossain
Sohela Mustari
Correspondence:
Dewan Mahboob Hossain
Assistant Professor
Department of Accounting & Information Systems
University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Email: [email protected]
Sohela Mustari
PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology & Anthropology,
International Islamic University Malaysia
Gombak, KL, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]
Even then, just like the case o many
other Muslim scholars, his contribu-
tions remained unknown to the
Western World or a long period o
time. But these days, in spite o so many
eorts o ignoring and concealing
the pioneering role o Ibn Khaldun in
many elds o knowledge (like history,philosophy, sociology and law), many
scholars (both eastern and western) are
giving importance to his immensely
notable contributions (Okane and Ah-
mad, 2011). It is said that his analytical
method is a perennial contribution to
the analysis o social dynamics (Patri-
arca, 2010). Within the Islamic world he
is known as the ounder o positive/
historical/truly scientic social science
(Stowasser, 1984). He is best known or
his outstanding theory o social and
political cycles. His criticisms on the
methods used in historical analysis
and then the introduction o a ground-
breaking methodology demand im-
mense admiration. Ibn Khaldun has his
contributions in the elds o historical
methods, acquirement o knowledge,
social dynamics, micro and macro
economics, science and instruction etc.
He was an astute politician, a jurist, a
rst-rate historian and the rst sociolo-
gist in the modern sense ( Stowasser,
1984 and Gellner, 1981).
1.1. Lie and Works o Ibn Khaldun:
The lie o this ourteenth century
philosopher was intricately interwoven
with the political and military events
o his time (Katsiacas, 1997). Abu Zaid
Abd al-Rahman Ibn Muhammad Ibn
Khaldun was born on May 27, in the
year o 1332 in Tunis in an infuential
Arab-Andalusian amily (Patriarca,
2010). In his childhood he got hisgeneral education in accordance with
the conventional Islamic teaching o
his time. He learnt Al Quran by heart.
Other than that he gained the knowl-
edge o grammar, jurisprudence, Ha-
dith, rhetoric, philology, and poetry. He
obtained aptitude in these issues and
received certication in these subjects.
But he was unortunate as he lost
his parents, most o his teachers and
riends at the age o nineteen, in anepidemic o plague which spread out
in Tunis. In his great creation, known as
Al Muqaddimah, he described his eel-
ings as ollows:
Abstract
Among the social scientists, the var-
ious aspects o making a living have
been an interesting area o research
or a long period o time. Centuries
beore, a Muslim thinker named IbnKhaldun has given a detailed and
interesting description and analysis
on the various aspects o making
a living. This article ocuses on his
thoughts on the aspects o making
a living. The article starts with an in-
troduction o Ibn Khalduns lie and
works. Ater that, it presents a de-
tailed description o Ibn Khalduns
thoughts on the aspects o making
a living. The article also analyzes
these thoughts and strives to ndout their relevance in the context
o the modern world. The article
concludes that though Ibn Khaldun
introduced these theories to the
world centuries beore, these theo-
ries still have relevance in todays
world. Moreover, many o these
theories are very similar to the re-
cent theories given by contempo-
rary scholars.
1. IntroductionIbn Khaldun is renowned as one o
the greatest thinkers ever. Among the
contributions o several great Muslim
thinkers, his contributions are regarded
as some o the most signicant. His
methodology in regards to the analysis
o history and his political and economic
thoughts demand to be appreciated as
some o the best thoughts the world has
ever encountered. It is said that his lav-
ish career path and eventul lie helped
him in gaining knowledge and dissemi-
nating thoughtul thoughts. His contri-
butions to academia and his assistance
to some o the great political gures
o his time made him distinguishable
among other thinkers. Many people
called him the ather o social science.
Stowasser (1984) introduced Ibn Khal-dun as: The man who set orth a system
o historical speculation in a book which
Arnold Toynbee has called The greatest
work o its kind that has ever been cre-
ated by any mind in any time or place.
Ahmed (2002) commented:
Not only is Ibn Khaldun generally
recognized as the ather, or one o the
athers, o modern cultural history and
social science infuencing and shaping
these disciplines into our time, but his
work provides the intellectual point at
which other world scholars connect in
genuine appreciation.
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Civilization in both the East and the
West was visited by a destructive Plague
which devastated nations and caused
population to vanish. It swallowed up
many o the good things o civiliza-
tion and wiped them out. (taken rom
Patriarca, 2010).
At this point o his lie he was suering
rom bitter loneliness and a eeling o
intellectual emptiness was always biting
him (Talbi, 1991). As a result he went to
the Town o Fez (a city o North Arica)
and was oered an administrative
position in the empire o Sultan Abu
Ishak. This town used to be one o the
most prominent cultural and commer-
cial centers o that time. Here, he came
across a good number o prominent
knowledgeable people. His level oknowledge was ameliorated during his
stay in Fez.
Ater that he visited and lived in several
areas in Northern Arica by giving his
services to a cohort o several sover-
eigns and despots with dierent tasks
(Patriarca, 2010). Here he started writing
his amous contribution Al Muqaddi-
mah. Because o some unsuitable situ-
ations in the Sultans palace, he let the
palace and reached Granada.
Later, ater his pilgrimage to Makkah, he
went to Cairo and ell in love with the
city because o the immense natural
beauty o the river Nile, the beautiul
architecture o the town and the pres-
ence o many notable scholars o that
time. He was appointed in the position
o Malikite Qadi. Later he got a teaching
job in the University o Al-Azhar, one o
the most prominent universities in theMuslim world till now. He used to teach
Fiqh and students used to like his teach-
ing a lot:
Al-Haz Ibn Hajar, present at his
lectures, described his teacher with
these words: He was very eloquent, an
excellent essayist and exhibited a deep
knowledge o the subjects, particularly
those relating to the state (Enan, 1984:
p.66 and Patriarca, 2010).
At this point o his lie he had to ace
another tragedy: his amily members
died in a shipwreck on their way to the
port o Alexandria. Besides this, because
o the huge protest rom the part o the
local elites, he had to resign his position.
He had to join in school teaching at this
point. He died in Cairo in the year o
1406.
As discussed earlier, Ibn Khaldun was
one o the scholars who did not pass
his lie only by studying and writing.
He was also involved in several political
phenomena happening at his time. He
held various diplomatic and political
positions in several times. He completed
his rst book titled The Gist o the
Compendium at the age o nineteen. His
other notable contributions include The
Healing o the Seekers and Kitab al-ibar.
According to Enan (1933):
The intellectual legacy o Ibn Khaldun
is unique among the works o Moslem
thoughts and notwithstanding the
lapse o centuries, still maintains its val-
ue, vigor and modernity, and occupies
a high place among the monuments o
world thoughts.
He completed his renowned work Al
Muqaddimah within a span o ve
months. It is said that this work resulted
rom his immense wisdom and experi-
ence. This huge volume o work in-
cluded a wide variety o topics. Nurullah
(2009; 99) states:
Ibn Khaldun had a gited ability or
exposition that convinces readers easily.
His Muqaddimah or Prolegomena is
distinguished as a new subject and the
brilliance o its style is characterized by
its simplicity, orce o argument, andharmony. Ibn Khaldun began to put all
these experiences, observations and
refections into the book in his virtual
exile.
It is to be also mentioned here that
many scholars recognize Ibn Khaldun as
a positivist. I we go through his writ-
ings, we shall be able to nd that most
o his writings are based on his obser-
vations and experience. Rather than
ocusing on what should be the situa-tion (a normative approach) he actually
described on what is going on in the
society.
Al Muqaddimah mainly covered six
issues. The rst chapter discussed hu-
man civilization in general. The second
chapter covered the issues o Bedouin
civilization, savage nations and tribes
and their lie conditions. The third chap-
ter ocused on dynasties, royal authori-
ties, the caliphate and some other issuesrelated to these. The ourth chapter
discusses countries and cities and the
other types o sedentary civilizations.
The th chapter covers issues related
to aspects o making a living. The sixth
chapter ocuses on dierent kinds o sci-
ence. This article ocuses on the issues
discussed in the th chapter: Issues
related to making a living.
1.2. Aspects o Making a Living:
The various aspects o making a living
had been a popular issue o discussion
among the economists and the social
anthropologists or a long time. Schultz
and Lavenda (2005; 228) state that:
Although our physical survival depends
on our making adequate use o the ma-
terial resources around us, the resources
themselves do not determine how
they must be used. Rather, our cultures
suggest a range o options or making aliving, as well as urnishing the tools to
pursue those options.
Nanda and Warms (2004; 139) comment
that All societies survive by using their
environments to provide people with
basic material requirements o lie: ood,
clothing, and shelter. Schultz and Laven-
da (2005; 228) made similar comments
by saying:
In ordinary conversation, when we
speak o making a living we usually
mean doing what is necessary to obtain
the material things - ood, clothing,
shelter- that sustain human lie. Making
a living thus encompasses what is gen-
erally considered economic activity.
In order to survive in this world, human
beings need to avail these basic needs
and or that they ollow some subsist-
ence strategies. Subsistence strategiescan be dened as the patterns o pro-
duction, distribution and consumption
that members o a society employ
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to ensure the satisaction o the basic
material survival needs o humans
(Schultz and Lavenda, 2005; 231). Cohen
(1971) identied ve basic subsistence
strategies:
i. Foraging: Foraging involvescollecting wild vegetable oods,
hunting game and shing (Bates and
Fratkin, 2003; 99).
ii. Pastoralism: Pastoralism is a strategy
o collecting ood with the help o
domestic animals. The main products
that are collected rom these animals
are: dairy and meat.
iii. Horticulture: Horticulture or
extensive agriculture involves the
production o plants by using
uncomplicated, non-mechanizedtechnology.
iv. Agriculture: Agriculture (sometimes
called intensive cultivation)
produces a much greater amount o
ood in comparison to horticulture. It
involves producing ood using
elds or permanent cultivation,
using ploughs and animals and using
the techniques o irrigation.
v. Industrialism: Industrialism is
involved with using machinetechnology and chemical processes
or the production o ood and other
goods (Nanda and Warms, 2004; 143).
Hendry (1999; 208) comments that
Exchange, and specically markets,
are urther development o economic
lie, made possible when subsistence is
secure. Murphy (1989) states that the
anthropological interest in economics
comes rom the relevance with subsist-
ence and environment and there area very ew overlapping areas between
anthropology and economics. The disci-
pline o economics is mainly concerned
with the issues like demand, supply,
price etc. Jha (1994) denes economic
anthropology as a major sub-eld o
social anthropology and according to
him, economic anthropology mainly
analyzes economic lie as a subsystem
o societies. Murphy (1989; 148) also
comments:
Anthropological economics deals
with the values, institutions, roles and
groupings that are parts o systems o
production and distribution o goods
and services.
I we go through the writings o Ibn
Khaldun, we shall see that he could
wisely blend the topics o these dis-
ciplines (economics and economicanthropology) in his descriptions. On
one hand he has talked about the role
o dierent people and groups in the
economic exchange in order to ensure
subsistence. On the other hand, he
gives a prudent explanation o the role
o demand and supply in the market
mechanism. He did not use the terms
economics or anthropology in his writ-
ings as we know that these disciplines
came into existence later on. Patricia
(2010; 184) asserts:
Y. Lacoste even comes to arm that
i Thucydides invented history, Ibn
Khaldun turned it into a science. His
thought is the ruit o a perect syn-
thesis in which sociology and social
psychology and political science and
economy appear as auxiliary sciences to
history in a complex unity. Ibn Khaldun
admonishes that it is necessary that
the historian knows the undamental
principles o the art o government, thetrue character o events, the dierence
between the nations, the countries and
times which observe the customs, the
uses, the behavior, the opinions and
religious sentiments and all the circum-
stances that infuence the society.
From this statement it becomes clear
that Ibn Khaldun did not ignore the
importance o the disciplines like sociol-
ogy, economics, political science and
anthropology rather he gave signicantimportance on these issues in studying
history.
From the discussions o the next
sections o this article, it will become
conspicuous that centuries beore, Ibn
Khaldun discussed all these aspects
o making a living in such a detailed
way that most o his comments are still
greatly relevant in the context o the
modern world.
1.3. Objectives o the article:
This article ocuses on Ibn Khalduns
thoughts on the aspects o making a
living. It can be seen that in his amous
book titled Al Mukaddimah he has
discussed almost all the aspects o mak-
ing a living discussed in the previous
section.
The main objectives o this article are:
i. To describe the thoughts o Ibn
Khaldun in relation to several aspects
o making a living;
ii.To nd out the relevance o his
thoughts in todays modern world.
Ibn Khaldun, in the th chapter o hismasterpiece Al Muqaddimah, discussed
on:
1. the aspects o making a living,
2. the conditions that occur in this
connection, and
3. the problems that arise in respect o
these.
The remaining sections o this article,
Ibn Khalduns thoughts on these topicsare discussed in details. These ideas are
taken rom Franz Roslenthals trans-
lation o Al Muqaddimah titled The
Muaqddimah: An Introduction to His-
tory, published in the year o 1958.
2.0. Ibn Khaldun on Making a Living:
In the th chapter o Al Muqaddimah,
Ibn Khaldun discusses on the various as-
pects o making a living. In this chapter,
he ocused on:(a) Denition o prot and sustenance.
(b) Role and importance o human
labor.
(c) Diverse ways o making a living.
(d) Ways o living that are not natural.
(e)The importance o ranks and the
nature o social class.
() The development o the practice o
crats,
(g) Dierent types o crats, and,
(h) Market mechanisms.
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Ibn Khaldun said that every human
being, rom the beginning to the end
o his lie, needs to collect his ood and
other essentials o living. He reminds
us that only Allah is wealthy and we are
poor. But Allah has provided us with
enough resources rom which we can
make our livings. In order to make theirliving, dierent people adopt dierent
kinds o means. There are advantages
and disadvantages o all these ways o
living. The next sections o the article
will present a summary o all these
issues discussed in this chapter o Al
Muqaddimah.
3.0. Proft and Sustenance:
Every man wants to get some things. In
order to meet these needs, men go orexchanges o things and thus they try
to remove their own weaknesses. When
they get more control over their weak-
nesses, they start striving or making
prots. Man makes prot with the help
o the natural endowments (like land,
rain etc.) and his own eort (labor). Out
o the earned prot a man can ensure
his livelihood and i the prot exceeds
his needs, he can go or capital ac-
cumulation. When a man can use his
income or his interests and needs, his
sustenance is ensured. According to IbnKhaldun, Making a living represents
the desire o human beings or suste-
nance and it also includes the endeav-
ors to attain this sustenance.
According to Ibn Khaldun, the raction
o the total income that a man gains
out o his own endeavor is called prot.
Without human labor, prot cannot
be earned. In order to earn prot, man
must have the intention to obtain
things. He must exert enough eortsto get hold o those things. The part o
prot that a man utilizes or his own
purposes is called sustenance. The
remaining unutilized part o the prot
will be accumulated as capital. Thus,
according to Ibn Khaldun:
Prot - Amount spent or Sustenance =
Accumulated Capital.(1)
In todays economics and accounting
practices, prot is dened as the di-
erence between the costs that a rm
incurs or producing goods or services
and the revenue that it receives rom
the sale per unit o time (Hasan, 1975;
10). In other words, it is the surplus over
the cost or it is the amount by which
total revenue exceeds total cost (Hasan,
1975; 10 and Dyal and Karatjas, 1985;
95). Though modern business activities
involve complex kinds o cost struc-
tures, the basic theme o prot resem-bles the theme given by Ibn Khaldun
centuries beore.
In order to survive, man needs to
exchange things. Man has to put in his
labor in order to make this exchange
successul. When the value o the thing
obtained through this exchange ex-
ceeds the value o the thing sacriced
(that is, a surplus is created), a prot is
earned. People use a part o this prot
or their own sustenance and accumu-late the remaining part as accumulated
capital.
Ibn Khaldun says that this accumulated
capital can be measured in terms o the
value o two valuable minerals - gold
and silver. Though rom the accumu-
lated capital people can obtain some
other things but the main purpose o
capital accumulation is to obtain gold
and silver as these minerals are not
subject to market fuctuations.
Though, in modern times, the value o
gold and silver fuctuates in the market,
both o these minerals are considered
valuable. Gold used to be considered as
a standard to x the prices o curren-
cies or many years. Dyal and Karatjas
(1985; 302) mentioned about goldsmith
banking:
Early banks existed because it was
dicult and risky to carry around large
amounts o gold. People paid to leave
their gold with goldsmiths and others
with sturdy vaults in exchange or a re-
ceipt that could be traded or merchan-
dise or exchanged or the gold that was
originally deposited.
Many believe that these goldsmith
banks were the oundations o modern
banking systems. Gold also used to be abase o monetary systems o the coun-
tries or a long period o time.
It is to be mentioned here that Ibn Khal-
dun mostly talked about barter transac-
tions. He did not mention monetary
transaction that we see these days. But
it cannot be denied that he could iden-
tiy the value and importance o gold as
a tool in the exchange system.
4.0. The Role and Importance o
Human Labor:
Modern economics classies economic
resources into three categories. These
are labor, capital and the natural re-
sources. These three are considered as
the inputs or actors o production.
Hasan (2009; 291) denes labor as any
mental or physical exertion undertaken
with a view to obtain physical gain. IbnKhaldun identies labor as the sole in-
put o earning prots. According to him
prot is the value that is created with
the help o human labor. Less utilization
o labor results in a decrease in prot.
In the cities, where ewer numbers o
people live, less prot is generated. It is
because o the unavailability o labor.
Larger cities have a larger supply o
labor and as a result they enjoy greater
prot which results in more avorable
conditions and luxuries. That is why a
country cannot survive when civiliza-tion decreases. So, we can see that, Ibn
Khaldun puts labor at the center o the
survival o a civilization.
It can be said that Ibn Khaldun identi-
ed labor as the source o value long
beore the ather o economics - Adam
Smith. Adam Smith also considered
labor as a source o value:
Labor was the rst price, the original
purchase - money that was paid or all
things. It was not by gold or by silver,
but by labor, that all the wealth o the
world was originally purchased (Smith,
1937; 30).
Mohammad (2009; 225) states that
Ibn Khaldun preceded Max Weber and
Adam Smith in holding that work is
vital or capital accumulation. Karl Marx
also regarded prot as a surplus and
attributed it to labor (Hasan, 2009; 299).
We can also see that the legendary
economist David Ricardo also pro-
nounced this principle in 1953, in his
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amous book titled On the Principles o
Political Economy and Taxation. Hasan
(2009; 294) comments that In the
Ricardian ramework, it is not dicult
to see labor as the only source o value.
Though almost no western economics
text mentions Ibn Khaldun, he recog-
nized the importance o labor centuriesbeore the other renowned economists.
Moreover, these days, labor is described
with the help o a more accurate term:
Human Resource. The concept o hu-
man resource not only ocuses on the
ability to perorm physical tasks but
also the skills and knowledge o human
beings that are used in perorming the
task eciently (Dyal and Karatjas, 1985;
23). Ibn Khaldun, while describing the
classication o the crats, described theprocess o perorming each crat and
the speculation and knowledge that is
needed to perorm these. So, in a sense,
he could dene labor in a very accurate
way.
5.0. Diverse ways o making a living:
Ibn Khaldun mentions the diverse ways
men can ollow to earn a living. These
can become the sources o prot and
sustenance or men. Ibn Khaldun men-tions the various sources o prot:
i. Prot can be obtained through
power. It is mentioned as imposts or
taxation.
ii. Prot can be earned through
hunting and shing.
iii. Prot can be generated through
agriculture.
iv. Prot can be earned through
applying labor to crats (e.g., writing,carpentry, tailoring, weaving,
horsemanship and others).
v. Prot can also be generated by
applying labor to non-specic
materials such as proession and
activities.
vi. Prot can be earned through
commerce (buying things at a lower
price and selling them at a higher
price).
Though, a living can be made with the
help o political power, according to Ibn
Khaldun, this cannot be considered as
a natural way o making a living. The
natural ways are agriculture, practice o
crats and commerce.
Agriculture is the oldest way o making
a living. Adam, the ather o mankind,
trained and practiced agriculture. This
is a crat that has a deep relation with
nature and, according to Khaldun, it
does not need any speculation and
knowledge.
The practice o crats started ater ag-
riculture. Practicing o crat is system-
atic and that is why there is a need or
thinking and speculation in perorm-
ing it. Ibn Khaldun mentions that, the
second ather o mankind- Idris, haspracticed it.
Commerce involves obtaining a prot
margin by purchasing a product at one
price and selling it or more than that. It
involves generating a margin out o the
dierence between the purchase price
and the selling price. So, according to
Ibn Khaldun, in commerce,
Prot = Selling Price - Purchase Price .(2)
Here, the purchase price represents the
cost o the merchant and the selling
price is his earning. According to Ibn
Khaldun, though commerce is legal, this
is a kind o gambling. In many cases, the
merchant has to store the goods and
keep those in store or some periods
and wait or the prices to rise. This is
called hoarding. I the good becomes
rare, it is expected that the price will
rise but i the good is available in themarket in enough quantity, the price
will go down.
6.0. Ways o making a living that are
not natural:
According to Ibn Khaldun, the ollowing
two are not the natural ways o making
a living:
i. Being a servant, and,
ii.Trying to make money by hunting orhidden treasures.
6.1. Being a servant and keeping a
servant:
The rulers employ several people in the
service o soldiers, secretaries, police-
men and in many others as needed.
They pay these employed people rom
the treasury. Moreover, many people
who were born and brought up inluxury, employ people to perorm
their tasks. Generally the people who
lead their lives in luxurious way, are
too proud and that is why they keep
employees to do their works. In many
cases, these people are not accustomed
to do their own works and are unable
to perorm their own tasks. That is why
they become dependent on the works
o others. According to Ibn Khaldun,
this is a sign o weakness and that is
why becoming a servant is not normalas people are becoming servants as a
result o the weaknesses o others.
Moreover, the people who want to keep
a servant must remember that servants
need two qualities: capability to do
work and trustworthiness. Having both
o these qualities is very rare. A servant
may all in one o the ollowing our
groups:
i. Capable and trustworthy.
ii. Not capable and not trustworthy.
iii. Capable but not trustworthy.
iv. Not capable but trustworthy.
The servants o the rst kind are too
qualied and that is why they are
problematic. I they are employed in a
low rank, they may not remain satised
and thus may not become ruitul or
the employers. The second kind doesnot have any quality and thus will cause
damage to the employers by his incapa-
bility and disloyalty. No intelligent per-
son should employ this kind o servant.
In the case o the ourth kind, though
it is good that they are trustworthy but
as they are incapable o doing the work
properly, they will create damage to the
employer.
Ibn Khaldun suggests that the servants
o the third kind (capable but not trust-
worthy) are the most suitable kind or
the employers. As they are capable, they
will not cause damage and their lack o
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trustworthiness can be controlled by
applying several saeguarding mecha-
nisms and policies by the employer.
This theory has huge relevance in
modern world corporate governance.
One o the most prominent theories
that is applied in modern day business
research is the agency theory. Agency
theory suggests that the people work-
ing in the organizations are actually the
agents o the owners o the organiza-
tion. As most people are driven by sel
interest, it is possible that the employ-
ees will try to ulll their own inter-
est, sometimes at the expense o the
owners. Thereore, the owners should
introduce several control mechanisms
in the organizations so that the works
o the employees are guarded. Themodern complex organizations o these
days need very capable employees
who can help in running the businesses
eectively. These capable people are
intelligent enough to work or their own
benet and not or the benet o the
owners. That is why organizations set
eective control mechanisms so that
these employees work or the interest
o the owners. This theory resembles
the theory mentioned here, given by
Ibn Khaldun. He also suggested that thenegative eects o the lack o trust-
worthiness can be overcome through
control mechanisms.
6.2. Hunting or Hidden Treasure:
Some people believe that the people o
the past have hidden their properties
and valuables underground and these
people try to make a living by search-
ing or those treasures. Their belie is
mostly based on stories and myths. IbnKhaldun says that this is the thinking o
weak-minded people. This represents
their incapability o making a living in a
natural way. They want to ensure their
sustenance without making any eort.
They do not understand that in most
o the cases, they cannot get anything
as this is not a systematic method o
searching or treasure and making a
living. Moreover, treasure hunting is
troublesome, risky and expensive.
7.0. The importance o rank and the
nature o social class:
According to Ibn Khaldun, people hav-
ing rank can make use o other peoples
labor in order to make prot. Because o
their rank status, they can apply power
on other people and make them do
works. They receive much labor withina short period o time (as many people
keep working or them) and thus their
wealth also increases within a short
period. In this respect Ibn Khldun gives
examples o jurists, religious scholars
and pious people who have gained a
good reputation in the society. These
people become wealthy very quickly
because other people respect them and
help them a lot.
But the people who do not have a rank
in the society will have to increase their
wealth by their own eorts. Ibn Khldun
said that the merchants, who have rank,
enjoy a better position and status in
the society than the merchants with-
out rank. Rank helps people to secure
property.
Ibn Khaldun highlights the class system
existing in society. The social classes
exist and each higher class dominatesthe lower class/classes. Just like that, the
lower classes also depend on the higher
classes or making a living. Rank plays
a vital role in generating higher prots.
I someone holds an infuential rank in
the society, it will be easier or him to
accumulate a greater amount o prot
in comparison to the people in the
lower ranks.
In order to secure a rank, a man must be
obsequious and he must also practice
fattery. It is not possible or anyone
to get a rank without obsequiousness
and fattery. So, a person possessing
and showing haughtiness and pride
will not be able to secure a rank. Pride
and superciliousness are considered as
blameworthy characteristics.
Many merchants and cratsmen do not
possess any rank. Generally these peo-
ple remain very proud o their expertise.They think that as other people need
their services, they are superior and
people should also treat them as
superior members in the society and
respect them duly. But in reality, it does
not happen. Because o their arrogant
and over-condent behavior, people
dislike them. Over the time, because
o this detachment rom people, their
livelihood gets destroyed.
Ibn Khaldun also says that the persons
like judge, muti, teacher, prayer leader,
preacher, muezzin, and the like are gen-
erally not very wealthy. This is because
these people do not oer anything that
general people have compelling needs
or. These people mainly oer noble
things. Moreover, these people are also
very proud o their knowledge and eel
themselves superior to the others in
the society. They do not behave humbly
with the people in the ranks. As a resulttheir conditions do not improve. So, Ibn
Khaldun concludes that obsequious-
ness and fattery are essential to gain
wealth.
Gaining wealth with the help o power
and positions is not uncommon in
todays society also. Many political
gures all over the world have become
the owners o huge amount o assets by
imposing their power on other people.
Infuential people utilize general public
in gaining wealth. In the third world,
there are so many examples o becom-
ing the owner o huge wealth ater
securing a political position (say parlia-
ment member). In many cases they
exploit their power in illegitimate ways.
Other people also help them either
because they are araid o the people
in the power or because they want to
ulll their own interest by serving the
powerul political leaders.
I we analyze these theories o Ibn
Khaldun, we shall be able to understand
that long beore Karl Marx, Ibn Khaldun
made an attempt to explain social class.
According to Marx:
Some people learned to produce more
than they needed to survive. They came
to enjoy a power position because they
could provide subsistence to others.
Controlling material production repre-sented a threshold point in the histori-
cal development o humans. It also led
to a division o labor in society, and to
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the ormation o economic social class
(Delaney, 2005; 71).
Though it cannot be said straightway
that there is a ull resemblance be-
tween the theories o Karl Marx and Ibn
Khaldun, both o them emphasized on
power and wealth as determinants o
social class. Ultimately these two things,
wealth and power, result in the exploita-
tion o the lower social class.
Khalduns theory also has resemblance
with the confict perspective o Max
Weber. Weber, like Marx, emphasized on
economic actors as the determinant
o power. Weber also added two other
actors responsible or social division
and they are: social prestige/status andpolitical infuence (Delaney, 2005; 72).
Khaldun also emphasized highly on
these two actors and gave detailed ex-
planation on the infuence o these two
actors on the creation o social class.
Renowned sociologist C. Wright Mills
also emphasized on political power as
a critical element creating class dier-
ence (Delaney, 2005; 84). Mills concept
o power elite resembles with the con-
cepts o Ibn Khaldun. Mills (1956; 3-4)dened the term power elite as ollows:
The power elite is composed o men
whose positions enable them to tran-
scend the ordinary environments o
ordinary men and women; they are in
the positions to make decisions having
major consequences.
This concept o elite group has a simi-
larity with the group o the judge, themuti, the teacher, the prayer leader,
the preacher and the muezzin that Ibn
Khldun mentioned.
8.0. Development o the Practice o
Crats:
Ibn Khaldun has given enough im-
portance on the practice o crats. He
dened crat as the habit o something
that deals with the actions and the
thoughts o people. This habit is devel-oped by doing the same thing again
and again. Crat needs teaching. This
habit is grown as a result o personal
observation o perorming the crat.
Crats can be simple or composite.
Simple crats deal with the necessities
and the composite ones deal with the
luxuries. In smaller cities where people
mainly want to ulll their necessities,
inerior crats are ound. When the sed-
entary civilization prolierates, compos-
ite and superior crats emerge. With thedevelopment o sedentary civilization
people get attracted to the luxuries o
lie and that is why developed orms o
crats are observed.
So, at rst the crats ullling the neces-
sities are developed. Some examples
o the experts o these crats are the
carpenter, the tailor, the smith, the
butcher and the weaver. Then when the
sedentary civilization starts developing,
crats like the coppersmith, the bathattendant, the cook, the biscuit baker,
teacher o singing, dancing and drum
beating are developed.
Ibn Khaldun said that men should apply
their labor only on those crats that
are considered as valuable in the cities
where they live and these will generate
prot or them. Crats can only fourish
when they are demanded. I a city or
civilization starts declining, the demand
or luxurious crats decreases and the
citizens again limit themselves to the
necessities.
In todays world, i we compare the situ-
ations o the less developed and the de-
veloped countries, we can nd out the
relevance o Ibn Khalduns theories. Less
developed third world countries are
striving to meet the basic necessities o
citizens and as a result, people generally
do not practice luxurious crats there.
The people o these countries cannotaord more than their necessities as
they have a low per capita income. But
i we look at the modern and developed
western world, we can eel the vibrant
presence o luxurious crats. We can see
the growth o industries like publishing
houses, tourism, theaters and movies,
aristocrat hotels, luxurious apartments,
expensive restaurants and others. It is
because the sedentary lie fourished in
these countries. People could develop
themselves to a certain extent. Theireconomic activities and perormances
increased. They are earning more and
that is why they are looking or new
products and amenities. Entrepreneurs
in these countries are utilizing the
scope o ullling these new demands
o people. New innovative products and
services are coming to the market just
as Ibn Khaldun commented that crats
can improve only when there is an
increasing demand or them.
9.0. Dierent Types o Crats:
Ibn Khaldun classies the crats under
two main categories:
i. Necessary: like agriculture,
architecture, tailoring, carpentry, and
weaving.
ii. Noble: Like midwiery, the art o
writing, book production, singing and
others.
In Al Muqaddimah, he discussed on
most o these crats under dierent
headings. He not only dened these
crats but also has meticulously de-
scribed the processes o perorming
these crats. In this article, very brie
descriptions (mainly according to Ibn
Khalduns writings) o all these crats
are presented along with their present
conditions. According to Ibn Khaldun,
the main types o crats are:
(a) Agriculture:The ultimate outputs o
this crat are ood and grain. This is the
oldest crat that was developed beore
the introduction o sedentary lie as it
meets the most basic need o human
beings: ood. Sedentary people do not
practice this crat. This crat involves
ordinary, normal and uncomplicated
ormula. That is why the cultivators are
characterized by humility.
(b) Architecture:This is considered as
the rst kind o crat o the sedentary
society. This crat helps in building
houses or shelter and protection. It
protects people rom heat, cold and
enemies. Architecture needs technical
expertise. The houses o people dier
in terms o size, building materials, look
and decorations. The architectures o
dierent dynasties are also dierent.
(c) Carpentry: Ibn Khaldun identied
this wood-based crat as one o the
inevitabilities o civilization. The outputs
o this crat include: tent poles and pegs
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lances, bows, arrows, roo o the houses,
locks o the doors, chairs etc. Carpentry
is also applied in making ships. Per-
orming this crat demands the knowl-
edge and expertise in geometry.
(d) Weaving and Tailoring: Woven
materials protect people rom heat and
cold. Tailoring involves putting dierent
parts o clothing together with threads
and making the garment t to the body.
(e) Midwiery: Midwiery involves the
technique o taking a baby child out
o his/her mothers womb in a gentle
and careul manner. According to Ibn
Khaldun, the practice o this crat is
mainly limited within women. This is an
essential crat or human species.
() Medicine:This crat works or sae-
guarding health o people. Ibn Khaldun
comments that this crat is mainly
based on the cities. It is mainly because
the ood habits o city people are not
always good. They earn more and thus
they eat more. They eat dierent kinds
o ood. Food is the main reason o all
diseases. Moreover, the air in the cities
is polluted. The city people are relatively
inactive in terms o physical labor. So,they need medicines to survive.
(g) Book Production:This crat is
related to scholarly writing and ocial
documents. Ibn Khaldun talks about
the use o parchments or this purpose.
He mentioned about the growth o
production o books and government
documents. He talked about the use o
paper to prepare these documents.
(h) Writing and calculation: Ibn
Khaldun considered writing as the
most useul crat as it involves theoreti-
cal and scientic issues. He says that
calculation and writing are interrelated.
Calculation deals with numbers. It
requires intelligence.
Centuries ater the writing o Ibn
Khaldun, we can see the existence o
all these crats even in todays world. As
these crats are considered important
by people, over the passage o time, all
o these have developed a lot. In many
cases, his theories on all these crats
have relevance in todays world also.
Ibn Khaldun said that crat grows and
improves because o the increasing de-
mand rom the part o the people. This
statement was true in all these cases.
Even in todays world, in many societies,
the social status o the armers is much
lower than that o the people who live
sedentary lives. But there is no doubt
that agriculture improved in terms o its
techniques. Modern day armers are us-
ing better technologies and methods to
cultivate crops. Morover, the agriculture
based industries, mainly the processed
ood industry, ertilizer industry, pesti-
cide industry and the industries related
to agricultural machineries, are in a very
good shape in every economy.
In the modern world, mainly in the
developed countries, the eye-catching
architecture ascinates us. Architects, as
proessionals, are in good demand.
We can see the tremendous devel-
opment o weaving and tailoring in
todays world. Over the passage o time,
now, this crat is not only practiced to
protect the human body rom heat
and cold but it also gives good looks tohuman body. The remarkable growth
o ashion houses all over the world is
evidence or this. The garment industry
is one o the highest money-earning
industries at this point o time.
In recent ages, the crat o midwiery
is mainly practiced by trained doctors,
both male and emale. As a result o
the massive improvement in medical
science, this crat has developed a lot.
Even today, in the rural areas o many
underdeveloped countries, untrained
women practice this crat.
In todays modern ages we nd all the
arguments o Ibn Khaldun regarding
the crat o medicine as true. Though
the need or medicine is not limited
only to the cities these days, the un-
healthy ood habit, air pollution and
lack o physical exercise (because o
desk-based jobs) are creating a lot ohealth problems. New kinds o health
problems are arising. Medicine industry
is booming. Pharmaceutical companies
are investing huge amounts o money
in research and development estimat-
ing the uture growth.
Over the years, the world has seen
a substantial growth in publishing
and printing industry. In 15th cen-
tury Johannes Gutenberg introduced
the printing press. At the beginning,
publishing through press used to be
very expensive but over time, with
the advent o new technologies, the
printing o books and other documents
became inexpensive and common. This
industry went through this remarkable
growth because o the demand o the
crat called book production.
Ibn Khaldun also says that it is very
tough or a person to learn more than
one crat. It is very rare that we cannd a person having knowledge and
expertise in more than one crat. Spe-
cialization has become one o the most
talked about issues in todays society.
Organizations are going or depart-
mentalization. Departments within the
organizations are perorming dierent
specialized tasks. People with particular
skills and knowledge are employed
according to the need o every depart-
ment. The main reason or this practice
is that everybody cannot be an experto everything.
10.0. Market Mechanisms:
Ibn Khaldun discussed on how the
market works. He talked about the rules
o demand and supply. He also talked
about the quality issue. He stated the
ollowing principles:
i. When goods are available in small
numbers and these become rare, theprice o the goods rises. I the goods
are available in big quantities, their
prices go down. When it is easy to
acquire the product, more products
will be available in the market and
the prices will be lower and vice
versa.
ii. Goods are considered valuable when
the merchants bring them rom
another country, especially when
reaching another country is risky. I
merchants can bring the goods roma country which is tough to reach,
they can become afuent
immediately.
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iii. Merchants must deal with medium
quality goods. It is the medium
quality product that is always in high
demand. The reason is that most o
the people in the society can aord
to buy it. Most o the customers
cannot aord to buy high
quality products. High qualityproducts are mostly purchased by
the well-o people in the society. But
the number o afuent people is
small.
iv.Prices o the products should not
be too low or too high. I the price is
too low, merchants cannot gain prot
and their sustenance become risky.
It is tough to sell the goods o too
high price. So, in this case also,
merchants are at risk.
v. Man must produce whatever has
value in his city. He must be aware
whether this product will bring prot
or him or not.
vi. People learn a crat only i it has a
demand in the market.
Khalduns theory relating the product
price with product availability can be
related to the contemporary market
models established by the modern
economists. In these models, econo-
mists mainly highlighted the various
ways through which the consumers/
customers and the sellers act together
in setting the price and outputs in the
market.
At one end o this interaction, there
may be markets ollowing the principles
o pure competition. This is a market
where there are many sellers trying to
sell a particular similar product. Therewill be many buyers to buy the product.
Because o the availability o the prod-
uct, the competitors selling the product
in the market will not be able to raise
the price o the product. All the com-
petitors in the market will be selling the
product at a reasonable price.
At the other end o this interaction,
there will be markets where there will
be less number o sellers (generally
called an oligopoly market) or only oneseller (generally termed as monopoly
market) or a particular kind o product.
It happens because it becomes rela-
tively dicult to gain or produce this
particular product. The producers/sell-
ers can charge a relatively higher price
in these cases.
In comparison to todays literature
on market mechanism, denitely thethoughts o Ibn Khaldun will seem
crude and simplistic. In modern com-
plicated economy, the availability o
product will be hindered by so many
economic barriers and not just because
o the risk o acquiring the product that
Ibn Khaldun mentioned. But it should
be noted that Ibn Khaldun mentioned
these principles on the basis o the
conditions o the then society and
market. On the basis o those situations,
he could identiy the basic eatures o
interaction between product availabil-ity and price.
Quality control and pricing strategies
are also given signicant importance
in todays business domain. Business
people are going or a lot o research
and development in order to produce
products that will be o a certain quality
and will be aordable or most o the
consumers in terms o price. It is certain
that most o the products are absolutely
produced or the masses. Producers
cannot include too many eatures in
these products as in that case the price
will become too high. Though these
days many companies are specialized in
producing and selling luxury products
manuactured only or the higher class
o the society, they are ewer in number.
Most o the companies produce prod-
ucts or the masses and these products
are o medium quality.
11.0. Analysis o Ibn Khalduns
thoughts on making a living:
From the discussions in this article it
can be understood that Ibn Khalduns
contribution in the disciplines like
economics, sociology and anthropology
was immense and thus not ignorable.
Many o his descriptions and predic-
tions on human society have relevance
even in todays world. He is one o the
Muslim thinkers who got some recogni-
tionby the West. Even then, his name isnot mentioned in most o the Western
textbooks o economics, sociology and
anthropology.
Many people consider him as the ather
o sociology. It is because, centuries be-
ore Auguste Comte, Ibn Khaldun talked
about the science o the society. His
contribution in the eld o economics is
also substantial. The way he described
prot and surplus, labor, ways o mak-
ing a living and market mechanisms,is commendable. Even then, he did
not get enough recognition like Adam
Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx.
Many people criticize him by saying
that the theories that he has given lack
detail. These are expressed in crude and
simplistic orm. Many also complain that
Ibn Khaldun did not discuss dierent
disciplines (like economics, sociology,
anthropology, politics and history) sepa-
rately rather Al Muqaddimah is a jumble
o all dierent disciplines.
Ibn Khaldun, though he did not discuss
the topics o these disciplines sepa-
rately in his writings, he did not deny
the importance o the issues o these
disciplines. Rather in his writing, we can
see that the topics o all these disci-
plines are blended together.
There is no doubt that the theories
described by Ibn Khaldun are not that
polished in comparison o those o the
later thinkers but it is to be noted that
he has revealed these theories centuries
beore the others. Most o his theories
(though in a rudimentary and simple
orm) do not contradict with the theo-
ries o the recent thinkers. It was also
mentioned in this article that some o
the management and economic theo-
ries that he mentioned long beore are
similar to some contemporary theories.
Another admirable issue o Ibn Khal-
duns approach o establishing theory is
his methodology. He gave many o the
theories out o his own observation and
experience. That is why many Muslim
thinkers o today tried to recognize him
as a positivist. Backhouse (2002; 39)
comments:
Trade and Science both fourished
in the Islamic world, and men such asIbn Khaldun, involved in the legal and
administrative systems, were able to use
their own experiences and traditions
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handed down to them to amass a large
stock o economic knowledge.
Another important act or which Ibn
Khaldun deserves praise is that he
could identiy the sel-interest driven
nature o human beings. He could iden-tiy the class system prevailing in the
society. He has also shown the nature o
exploitation o the lower classes by the
upper powerul classes. In many cases,
Ibn Khaldun is compared to the Italian
philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli who
also dealt with the dark sides o human
nature. Both o these philosophers had
glorious political careers at their times.
12.0. Conclusion:
The objectives o this article were two-
old: (1) to describe the thoughts o Ibn
Khaldun on the aspects o making a liv-
ing and (2) to nd out the relevance o
these thoughts in todays world. Further
extensive research is necessary in order
to achieve a greater understanding o
Ibn Khalduns thoughts. His theories
on the development o the crats and
industries can be studied by analyzing
the historical evidence related to each
and every industry that he has talked
about.
It can be said condently that Ibn
Khaldun could grasp the undamental
elements o the aspects o making a liv-
ing and the related social and economic
realities. There is no doubt that Ibn
Khaldun was the pioneer o describing
many undamental economic and social
concepts that are having relevance
even in todays world.
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at the Faculty o Political Science, An-
kara University, on January 05.
MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF BUSINESS - VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1