Understanding the History and Philosophy in the Light of the Quran: Characteristics of Ibn Khaldun's Historiography

Among Islamic philosophers and historians, Ibn Khaldun, the Tunisian philosopher, historian and sociologist in the eighth century A.H. is the Muslim writer who tried to explain and interpret the Quran in the light of philosophy and history. He believes that wisdom fails to understand the divine attributes, monotheism, various points concerning divine philosophy and metaphysics. While denying the absolute rationality, he replaces historical rationality and hence his philosophy changes into a philosophy of history. By rejecting the three proposed ideas- Aristotle's and his follower's "a priori essentialism", asharite's "God-centered nominalism", and modern "human-centered nominalism", Ibn Khaldun creates a new perspective called "a posteriori nature-oriented." He suggests "civil science" in his new paradigm, having the meaning and distinctive position in the thoughts of this leading Muslim philosopher. This paper employs the library method and descriptive and analytical approach; it also explains and analyses the above issues in detail and documented. It relies on his works (Introduction and Experiences) illustrating that Ibn Khaldun is the first philosopher and historian succeeding to use his philosophical debate and views broadly and well-structured in the light of Quran in order to understand the history and philosophy of history.