Studies on Ibn Khaldun and His Thought in Eurasia: Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods

The ideas of Ibn-Khaldun have attracted great attention in different parts of the world. There have been many studies on this subject during and after the Soviet period. During the Soviet period, scholars like Barthold, Kirabayev, Ignatenko, and Smirnov not only explored Ibn Khaldun’s scientific thoughts on philosophy, history and sociology, but also his views on state and society. In these studies, due to some ideological approaches, the emphasis was placed more on the humanistic dimension of Ibn Khaldun and his views were dealt within the context of the phenomenon of class. In this period, Ibn Khaldun’s work also attracted the attention of historians and orientalists, and historians considered Ibn Khaldun’s Kitab al-Ibar as one of the main sources for studying the history of North African societies. Studies which approached Ibn Khaldun from a Marxist perspective treat mainly his views on economics and history. Besides, considering that Muqaddimah has not yet been translated to Russian, it can be said that Russian studies on Ibn Khaldun is not adequate. After the USSR period, there is a growing interest in Ibn Khaldun’s scientific tradition and both Russia and the newly independent Turkic Republics produced numerous works in relation to the subject and his views were analyzed in various dissertations. Especially Ibn Khaldun’s theory of “asabiyyah” has often been used to explain the newly emerging situations in the context of the independence of these countries