ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion - Waseem El-Rayes
Monday, September 13, 2021
Zoom:
Chair: Dyala Hamzah, Université de Montréal
1:30-2:45PM (Montreal)
Waseem El-Rayes, Associate Professor of Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy, James Madison College, Michigan State University
Nothing Human is Forever: Ibn Khaldun and the Morals (‘ibar) of Cyclical History
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Abstract: This paper argues that the notion of ‘nothing human is forever,’ as a product of both religious conviction and philosophical reflection, is a key moral (or ‘ibra) in Ibn Khaldun’s Kitab al-‘Ibar, one that informs his understanding of the material and psychological bases for the rise and fall of political regimes. The paper outlines: 1) what makes nothing human is forever a moral, 2) how it shapes the ancient and medieval view of cyclical history, and 3) how it informs Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of history.
