Ibn Khaldun on the Aspects of Making a Living: A Socio-Economic Analysis

7/28/2019 Ibn Khaldun on the Aspects of Making a Living: A Socio-Economic Analysis

1/10MIDDL E E A S T J OU RNA L OF B usi ness VOLUME 4, ISSUE 160

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

MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF BUSINESS - VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1



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.




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




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




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




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




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.




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



10/10MIDDL E E A S T J OU RNA L OF B usi ness VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 69

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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Documents

Ibn Khaldun on the Aspects of Making a Living: A Socio-Economic Analysis