orig. Abū Zayd ʽAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khaldūn
born May 27, 1332, Tunis, Tun.
died March 17, 1406, Cairo, Egypt
Noted Arab historian.
He was employed in court posts by various rulers in Tunis, Fès, and Granada. After retiring from politics in 1375, he wrote his masterpiece, the Muqaddimah ("Introduction"), in which he examined the nature of society and social change and developed one of the earliest rational philosophies of history. He also wrote a definitive history of Muslim North Africa, Kitāb al-ʽIbār . In 1382 he went to Cairo, where he was appointed professor of law and religious judge. In 1400 he was trapped in Damascus during that city's siege by Timur , spending seven weeks in the Central Asian conqueror's camp before securing his own release and that of a number of colleagues. He is regarded as the greatest premodern Arab historian.