Ibn Khaldūn’s Defense of Mu‘āwiya: The Dynamics of ‘Aṣabīyya, Mulk and the Counter-Revolution According to the Muqaddima

Abstract:Ibn Khaldūn’s defense of Mu‘āwiya’s accession to power and the appointment of his son Yazīd as his successor is a subject that is worthy of examination. Ibn Khaldūn’s reflections on Mu‘āwiya and his legacy are of particular interest because as a pioneer of historiography and sociology, he was neither tradition-bound nor did he blindly accept past information or scholarship. His trailblazing work, the Muqaddima, presents a theoretical framework for studying the rise and fall of nations contingent on the concepts of ‘aṣabīyya (group solidarity) and mulk (royal authority). Based on his work, Ibn Khaldūn’s position regarding Mu‘āwiya is documented in this article, supplemented with other relevant classical sources to evaluate the consistency of his stance with respect to the principles of scholarship and inquiry laid out in his magnum opus. This article also explains how Ibn Khaldūn’s conception of Mu‘āwiya’s counter-revolution against ‘Alī ibn Abū Ṭālib is pivotal to understanding the contemporary political culture and institutions extant in the Muslim world.