Confessions of a History Major

Ibn Khaldûn is the Muslim theologian and scholar who in 1377 wrote the Muqaddimah , the world’s earliest critical study of history.

In his epic work, Ibn Khaldûn never balks at giving the study of history respect and praise:

It should be known that history is a discipline that has a great number of approaches. Its useful aspects are very many. Its goal is distinguished . . . . The writing of history requires numerous sources and much varied knowledge. It also requires a good speculative mind and thoroughness, which lead the historian to the truth and keep him from slips and errors. If he trusts historical information in its plain transmitted form and has no clear knowledge of the principles resulting from the custom, the fundamental facts of politics, the nature of civilization, or the conditions governing human social organization, and if, furthermore, he does not evaluate remote or ancient material through comparison with near or contemporary material, he often cannot avoid stumbling and slipping and deviating from the path of truth.

What’s so refreshing about Khaldûn’s description of the project of history, however, isn’t that he simply offers up praise, but that he also holds the dicipline to a high standard:

[False stories] are always ending up in the works of the historians. The incentive for inventing and reporting them shows a tendency to forbidden pleasures and for smearing the reputation of others. People justify their own subservience to pleasure by citing the supposed doings of men and women of the past. Therefore, they often appear very eager for such information and are alert to find it when they go through the pages of published works.

Studying history is exciting because, in the end, it is a search for truth. Ibn Khaldûn understood that, and let’s hope the next generation of historians will, too.