The Muqqadima Ii (Human Civilization In General Chapter 1) Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth preparatory discussions.


Human being superior by thinking
Must by nature, live in community
The earth has zones, and is spherical
By Ptolemy and The book of Rogers
With rivers, oceans and dry land.
Water, dry, temperate, and intemperate.
The temperate sustain civilization
The amount of sun, on the zones, by some degree
Color, disposition and habitat. The dryer the zone
Hardened is the spirit. And the food.
Because of the ‘moisture’ in grains,
Those who eat with abundance are dull of intellect
And weak of spirit. Those like Bedouin
Have a perceptive intellect, hard in living and live long.

-Ibn Khaldun discusses geography and the effects of climate and food on human character with consummate detail. He refers to Ptolemy, Galen, Aristotle and The Book of Rogers, a work of geography written for Roger II (1129-1154) of Sicily by Muhammad Al-Idrisi.

Sadiqullah Khan
Peshawar
March 2,2014.