9

Cf. Bombaci, p. 441.

10

Muhammad b. Ishaq, author of the famous biography (sirah) of Muhammad. He died in 150 or 151 [A.D. 767/68] Cf. GAL, 1, 134f. Suppl.,1, 205 f.

11

Muhammad b. Jarir, author of the Annales, 224/25-310 [839-923]. Cf.GAL, I, 142 f. Suppl.,1, 217 f.

12

Hisham b. Muhammad, d. 204 or 206 [819/20 or 821/221. Cf. GAL, 1, 138 ff. Suppl., I, 211 f.

13

The biographer of Muhammad and historian of early Islam, 130-207 [747-823]. Cf. GAL, 1, 135 f.; Suppl., 1, 207 f.

14

He died in 180 [796/971. Cf. GAL, Suppl., 1, 213 f.

15

Ali b. al-Husayn, d. 345 or 346 [956 or 957]. Cf. GAL, I, 143 fl. Suppl, I, 270 f.

16

Ibn Khaldun's Egyptian pupil, Ibn Hajar, is a good witness as to the partisan objections of theologians against the historians mentioned. Al­Mas'udi's works are out of circulation (tafihah), because he was a Shi'ah and Mu'tazilah, and the Spaniard Ibn Dibyah (cf. GAL, I, 310 fl.; Suppl., I, 544 f.) thought very little of him. Cf. Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan (Hyderabad, 1329-3t/1911-13), IV, 224f. Al-Waqidi is often considered an untruthful transmitter of historical traditions and ignorant of pre-Islamic history. Ash-Shafi'i declared all his writings to be lies. Cf. al-Khatib al­Baghdadi, Ta'rikh Baghdad (Cairo, 1349/1931), III, 14 ff.; and Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib (Hyderabad, 1325-27/1907-9), IX, 363 fl.

17

That is, the Umayyads and the 'Abbasids.

18

Hayyan b. Khalaf, 377-469 1987/88-10761. Cf. GAL, 1, 338; Suppl., 1, 578; and see below, 3:364. B and C change the correct Ibn Hayyan in the margin to Abu Hayyan.

19

Ibrahim b. al-Qasim, who lived ca. A.D.1000. Cf. GAL, 1,155; Suppl., I, 229, 252; see also below, 1:360 and 3:363.

lfriqiyah reflects the name of the Roman province of Africa. This geographical term is commonly used by Ibn Khaldun (cf. p. 130, below) and has been retained in the translation

20

Literally, "wove on the loom." Cf., for instance, n. 1444 to Ch. vi, below.

21

For these terms of logic, see below, 3:142, 145, and 272, for example. Cf. Bombaci, p. 441.

22

For the so-called "dust letters" mentioned here as used for numerical indication, see n. 883 to Ch. vi, below.

23

Hasan b. Rashiq, 390 to 456 or 463 [1000 to 1064 or 1070/711. Cf. GAL, I, 307; Suppl., l, 599 f. Ibn Khaldun's reference to the Mizan al-'amal was apparently copied by Hajji Khalifah, Kashf ax-zunun, ed. Flugel (Leipzig & London, 1835-58), VI, 385. The Mizan al-'amal is not preserved.

24

Literally, "I bargained on my own for authorship though I was bankrupt... ."

25

Since the pre-Islamic Arabs are considered to have existed since the beginning of the world, all the nations of the world may be said to have been their contemporaries.

26

The Nabataeans, according to Muslim belief, were the pre-Islamic population indigenous to the 'Iraq. The ancient Syrians, as well as the Nabataeans, include the ancient Mesopotamians.

27

Bulaq and E have al-asbab "general causes," but the reading al-ansab seems preferable. The genealogical tables are the ones which Ibn Khaldun regularly adds to the historical description of peoples and dynasties in the 'Ibar.

28

In Arabic: Kitdb al-'Ibar wa-diwan al-mubtada' wa-l-khabar fi ayyam al-'Arab wa-l-'Ajam wa-l-Barbar wa-man 'asarahum min dhawi as-sultan al-akbar. The exact meaning of the title, especially of the words diwan al­mubtada' wa-l-khabar, translated here by "Archive of Early and Subsequent History," has given rise to much speculation. A recent discussion is that of R. Kobert in Orientalia, n.s. XV (1946), 150-54. The different suggestions are conveniently summarized by Fischel, Ibn Khaldun and Tamerlane, p. 25 (n. 92). Closest to the correct understanding was Silvestre de Sacy in his Chrestomathie arabe (Paris, 1826), II, 290.

Al-mubtada' and al-khabar placed next to each other are grammatical terms which refer to the subject and predicate of a nominal sentence. The subject of a nominal sentence comes at the beginning and the predicate usually at the end. The sense in which Ibn Khaldun wants "beginning" and "end" to be understood here is made amply clear by the preceding sentence (as well as by the whole Muqaddimah). In the preceding sentence, mubtada' al-ahwal wa-ma ba'dahu min al-khabar, translated here by "early conditions and subsequent history," refers to the "early conditions," the beginnings of human social and political organization, which come first like the subject of a nominal sentence; "subsequent history" (khabar) follows upon them as the predicate of a nominal sentence follows its subject. The grammatical con­nection is conceived by Ibn Khaldun as a logical connection, suggesting a causal nexus between "early beginnings" and "subsequent history."

29

Ahl al-'usur. For this expression, cf. Autobiography, p. 297, and below, 2:465 (a'immat al-a'sar).

30

Cf. Qur'an 5.175 (167). In some MSS, a dedication addressed to a particular patron follows here.