Sources of Ibn Khaldun's Familiarity with the Western World and Some Methodological Considerations

"The western world" is a new term which has not been used by Ibn Khaldun at all. This does not mean, however, that Ibn Khaldun had no idea of the relative unity of what we call today the western world. Elsewhere, in another study, the author of the present article has shown that Ibn Khaldun thought of what we call today the western world as a united world and mentioned it as "the northern world". The present article presupposes this point; and will use some methodological considerations to discuss his familiarity with this united world, since Ibn Khaldun is a methodology-sensitive thinker; and this distinguishes him from other thinkers and authors of the pre-modern world. In the present article, the author will try to analyze general points concerning the way Ibn Khaldun got familiar with the so-called western world and its indications, and recognize and refer Tarikh al-'ibar and its valuable introduction as the main sources for such familiarity.