A translation and Descriptive Analysis of the Chapter on Theology in the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun.

Our purpose is two-fold: l) to elucidate and discuss Ibn Khâldün's attitudes towards theology. 2) to analyze and discuss Ibn Khaldun's style. Our analysis has been carried out against the background of Muhsin Mahdi's studies of Ibn Khâldün's work, especially Mahdi's thesis of the philosophic foundation of the Muqaddimah and Ibn Khaldun's "exoteric-esoteric" style. Our findings are as follows: 1) In Ibn Khaldün's opinion, theology should exist only for purposes of defence of the faith, and cannot legitimately incorporate philosophical ideas and methods. 2) Philosophy and revealed religion are equally valid, each in its own sphere. However, any attempt to mix the two approaches (as was done by the later Muslim theologians) is invalid. 3) The basic religious obligations of Islam are to be fulfilled in a personal commitment; philosophical reason is not involved here. 4) Ibn Khaldun expresses these ideas through a highly complicated "exoteric-esoteric" style

Mohamed Talbi's discussion of Ibn Khaldūn as the 'pioneer of reason and modernity'

This article offers the first extended analysis of a section of Liyaṭmaʾinna qalbī (2007), a late work of the prominent Tunisian liberal modernist Islamic thinker and medieval historian Mohamed Talbi (1921–2017). Through a close reading of the introduction and first chapter of this work, we present Talbi’s views on the famous North African philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406), whom Talbi considers the ‘pioneer of reason and modernity’ and ‘the progenitor of modernity’ before modernity itself. Paying close attention to Talbi’s treatment of Ibn Khaldūn’s rationalism, empiricism, and supposed anticipation of modern scientific theories, as well as his relationship with philosophy and the thought of his own age, we detect in Talbi’s discussion an implicit conception of history, reason, and revelation, in which a ‘revelatory’ divine–human encounter can continually recur, through God’s grace (faḍl), in the mind of the individual believer. In an epilogue, we offer a brief comparison between this conception of history and that of the Lutheran theologian and Biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976)

Pemikiran Islam: dari Sayyid Ahmad Khan hingga Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

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