The Muqaddima I (Foreword) Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Note: The rendition in poems of this series of The Muqaddima is only introductory and never exhaustive; therefore the readers should read The Muqaddima in original by themselves.

On ceremony stands, to human reason,
The complacent eye is blind, critical appraisal,
A pardon is sought, empirical account
Truth from falsehood, a historiography
The philosopher’s stone is the Time’s play
A seedling inside, or from outside befall.

“Thus, this work (Muaddimah) contains an exhaustive history of the World. It forces stubborn stray wisdom to return to the fold. It gives causes and reasons for happenings in the various dynasties….I treated everything comprehensively and exhaustively and explained the arguments and reasons for its existence.”
“Still, after all has been said, I am conscious of imperfections when I look at the works of scholars past and present. I confess my inability to penetrate so difficult a subject. I wish that men of scholarly competence and wide knowledge would look at the book with a critical, rather than a complacent eye, and silently correct and overlook the mistakes they come upon. The capital of knowledge that an individual scholar has to offer is small. Admission (of one’s shortcomings) saves from censure. Kindness from colleagues is hoped for. It is God whom I ask to make our deeds acceptable in His sight. He is a good protector.”

-Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) in Foreword to The Muqaddimah, Trans: Franz Rosenthal, Princeton/Bollingen Paperback.

Sadiqullah Khan
Peshawar
March 2,2014.

Ibn Khaldun by Hassan A. Yahya @ arabamericanencyclopedia