As If the Whole World Had Changed

ولنذكر هنا فائدة نختم كلامنا في هذا الفصل بها وهي أن التاريخ إنما هو ذكر الأخبار الخاصة بعصر أو جيل فأما ذكر الأحوال الملمة للآفاق والأجيال والأعصار فهو أس للمؤرخ تنبني عليه أكثر مقاصده وتتبين به أخباره وقد كان الناس يفردونه بالتأليف كما فعله المسعودي في كتاب مروج الذهب شرح فيه أحوال الأمم والآفاق لعهده في عصر الثلاثين والثلاثمائة غربا وشرقا وذكر نحلهم وعوائدهم ووصف البلدان والجبال والبحار والممالك والدول وفرق شعوب العرب والعجم فصار إماما للمؤرخين يرجعون إليه وأصلا يقولون في تحقيق الكثير من أخبارهم عليه ثم جاء البكري من بعده ففعل مثل ذلك في المسالك والممالك خاصة دون غيرها من الأحوال لأن الأمم والأجيال لعهده لم يقع فيها كثير انتقال ولا عظيم تغير

And let us mention here a useful point with which we close our discussion in this section: namely, that history is only the mention of the reports particular to an age or a generation. As for the mention of the general conditions of the regions, generations and ages, it is a foundation for the historian on which most of his aims are built and by which his reports become clear. People used to devote separate works to it, as al-Masʿūdī did in the book Meadows of Gold: he explained in it the conditions of the nations and regions in his time, in the age of [the year three hundred] thirty, west and east, and mentioned their religions and customs, and described the countries, mountains, seas, kingdoms, dynasties, and the branches of the peoples of the Arabs and non-Arabs. So he became an imam for historians, to whom they refer, and a source on which they rely in verifying much of their reports. Then al-Bakrī came after him and did the like of that for routes and kingdoms specially, apart from the other conditions, because the nations and generations in his time had not undergone much movement nor great change.

Let me close this section with one more useful point. History is the record of events that belong to a particular age or generation. But a description of the general state of the world’s regions, peoples, and ages is the foundation on which a historian builds most of his work, and it makes his accounts clear. Writers used to give it books of their own. Al-Masudi did so in The Meadows of Gold.1 There he set out the state of the nations and regions of west and east in his own time, around the year 330 [941–942]. He told of their religions and customs, and described the countries, mountains, seas, kingdoms, and dynasties, and the branches of the Arab and non-Arab peoples. He became a model for historians, who turn to him and rely on him to check much of what they report. After him came al-Bakri, who did the same, but only for routes and kingdoms,2 leaving out everything else. In his day the nations and peoples had not seen many migrations or great changes.

1. Al-Masudi (died about 956) was a historian and traveler from Baghdad. The Meadows of Gold is his history of the world.
2. Abu Ubayd al-Bakri (died 1094), a geographer of Muslim Spain, wrote a Book of Routes and Kingdoms.

وأما لهذا العهد وهو آخر المائة الثامنة فقد انقلبت أحوال المغرب الذي نحن شاهدوه وتبدلت بالجملة واعتاض من أجيال البربر أهله على القدم بما طرأ فيه من لدن المائة الخامسة من أجيال العرب بما كسروهم وغلبوهم وانتزعوا منهم عامة الأوطان وشاركوهم فيما بقي من البلدان لملكهم هذا إلى ما نزل بالعمران شرقا وغربا في منتصف هذه المائة الثامنة من الطاعون الجارف الذي تحيف الأمم وذهب بأهل الجيل وطوى كثيرا من محاسن العمران ومحاها وجاء للدول على حين هرمها وبلوغ الغاية من مداها فقلص من ظلالها وفل من حدها وأوهن من سلطانها وتداعت إلى التلاشي والاضمحلال أموالها وانتقض عمران الأرض بانتقاض البشر فخربت الأمصار والمصانع ودرست السبل والمعالم وخلت الديار والمنازل وضعفت الدول والقبائل وتبدل الساكن وكأني بالمشرق قد نزل به مثل ما نزل بالمغرب لكن على نسبته ومقدار عمرانه وكأنما نادى لسان الكون في العالم بالخمول والانقباض فبادر بالإجابة والله وارث الأرض ومن عليها

As for this time, which is the end of the eighth century, the conditions of the Maghrib which we witness have been overturned and changed altogether, and its people of old, the generations of the Berbers, have been replaced by the generations of the Arabs who came into it from the fifth century, in that they broke them and overcame them and took from them most of the homelands and shared with them what remained of the lands under their rule. This, besides what descended upon civilization east and west in the middle of this eighth century from the sweeping plague, which ate away at the nations and carried off the people of the generation, and rolled up many of the good things of civilization and erased them. It came to the dynasties at the time of their senility and reaching the limit of their span; so it contracted their shade, blunted their edge, weakened their authority, and their wealth tottered toward vanishing and dwindling. And the civilization of the earth was undone by the undoing of humankind; so the cities and the buildings were ruined, the roads and waymarks were effaced, the houses and dwellings were emptied, the dynasties and tribes weakened, and the inhabitant changed. And it is as if I [see] the East: there has come down on it the like of what came down on the Maghrib, but in its proportion and according to the measure of its civilization. And it is as if the tongue of existence had called out in the world for languor and contraction, and it hastened to answer. And God is the heir of the earth and of whoever is on it.

But now, at the end of the eighth century,3 the state of the Maghrib,4 which we see before us, has been overturned and changed entirely. The Berber peoples who lived there from of old have been replaced by the Arab peoples who came in from the fifth century on.5 The Arabs broke them, overcame them, took most of their homelands, and shared the rest of their lands with them. On top of this came the sweeping plague that fell on civilization,6 east and west, in the middle of this eighth century. It ate away at the nations and carried off the people of that generation. It rolled up and wiped out many of the good things of civilization. It came upon the dynasties when they were old and had reached the limit of their life span.7 It shrank their shadow, blunted their edge, and weakened their power. Their wealth began to wither away. As humankind dwindled, the settled world fell apart. Cities and buildings were ruined, roads and waymarks wore away, houses and dwellings stood empty, and dynasties and tribes grew weak. The people who lived there changed. I imagine the East has suffered what the Maghrib suffered, in proportion to its own size and population. It is as if the voice of existence had called on the world to sink into dullness and shrink back, and the world had hurried to obey. God inherits the earth and all who are on it.8

3. Of the Muslim calendar. The eighth century ran from about 1301 to 1398 CE. Its middle, the plague years, was 1348–1349.
4. North Africa west of Egypt, roughly modern Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
5. Arab tribes, chiefly the Banu Hilal, moved west into North Africa from Egypt in the 1000s CE (the fifth century of the Muslim calendar).
6. Ibn Khaldun’s word ʿumrān means settled human life as a whole: population, towns, farming, and crafts together. “Civilization” is the usual rendering.
7. Ibn Khaldun taught that a dynasty, like a person, has a natural life span, usually about three generations.
8. An echo of the Quran (19:40), where God says, “It is We who will inherit the earth and all who are on it.”

وإذا تبدلت الأحوال جملة فكأنما تبدل الخلق من أصله وتحول العالم بأسره وكأنه خلق جديد ونشأة مستأنفة وعالم محدث فاحتاج لهذا العهد من يدون أحوال الخليقة والآفاق وأجيالها والعوائد والنحل التي تبدلت لأهلها ويقفوا مسلك المسعودي لعصره ليكون أصلا يقتدي به من يأتي من المؤرخين من بعده

And when conditions change altogether, it is as if creation had changed from its root and the world had been transformed in its entirety, and as if it were a new creation, a renewed coming-into-being, and a newly made world. So there is need in this time for someone to record the conditions of creation and of the regions and their generations, and the customs and religions that have changed for their people, and to follow the path of al-Masʿūdī for his age, so that it may be a source which those of the historians who come after him may follow.

When conditions change entirely, it is as if creation itself had changed at the root and the whole world had been transformed. It is like a new creation, a fresh beginning, a world made anew. So our own time needs someone to record the state of the world, its regions and peoples, and the customs and beliefs that have changed for them. He should follow the path al-Masudi took for his age, so that his work may be a model for the historians who come after him.

وأنا ذاكر في كتابي هذا ما أمكنني منه في هذا القطر المغربي إما صريحا أو مندرجا في أخباره وتلويحا لاختصاص قصدي في التأليف المغرب وأحوال أجياله وأممه وذكر ممالكه ودوله دون ما سواه من الأقطار لعدم اطلاعي على أحوال المشرق وأممه وأن الأخبار المتناقلة لا تفي كنه ما أريده منه

And I shall mention in this book of mine what I can of it for this Maghribi region, either explicitly or included in its reports and by hint, because my aim in the composition is specific to the Maghrib and the conditions of its generations and nations and the mention of its kingdoms and dynasties, apart from other regions, because of my lack of acquaintance with the conditions of the East and its nations, and because the reports passed along do not fulfill the essence of what I want of it.

In this book I will record as much of this as I can for the Maghrib, either openly or woven into its history and hinted at. My aim in writing is the Maghrib alone: the state of its peoples and nations, and its kingdoms and dynasties, not those of other regions. I do not know the East and its nations at first hand, and the reports passed from one person to another do not give me the full truth I need.

الفصل الخمسون في وفور العمران اخر الدولة وما يقع فيها من كثرة الموتان والمجاعات

The fiftieth section: on the abundance of civilization [population] at the end of the dynasty, and what occurs in it of many deaths and famines.

Section 50: On the large population at the end of a dynasty, and the many deaths and famines that come with it

وأما كثرة الموتان فلها أسباب من كثرة المجاعات كما ذكرناه أو كثرة الفتن لاختلال الدولة فيكثر الهرج والقتل أو وقوع الوباء وسببه في الغالب فساد الهواء بكثرة العمران لكثرة ما يخالطه من العفن والرطوبات الفاسدة وإذا فسد الهواء وهو غذاء الروح الحيواني وملابسه دائما فيسري الفساد إلى مزاجه فإن كان الفساد قويا وقع المرض في الرئة وهذه هي الطواعين وأمراضها مخصوصة بالرئة وإن كان الفساد دون القوي والكثير فيكثر العفن ويتضاعف فتكثر الحميات في الأمزجة وتمرض الأبدان وتهلك

And as for the many deaths, they have causes: from the many famines, as we mentioned; or the many disturbances because of the disorder of the dynasty, so that tumult and killing increase; or the occurrence of pestilence, and its cause in most cases is the corruption of the air by the abundance of population (ʿumrān), because of the much putrefaction and corrupt moistures that mix with it. And when the air is corrupted, and it is the nourishment of the animal spirit and always in contact with it, the corruption spreads to its temperament. Then if the corruption is strong, the sickness falls in the lung, and these are the plagues (al-ṭawāʿīn), and their diseases are specific to the lung. And if the corruption is less than strong and great, putrefaction multiplies and doubles, and fevers multiply in the temperaments, and bodies sicken and perish.

Deaths become many for several reasons. One is frequent famine, as I have said. Another is frequent unrest as the dynasty falls into disorder, so that riots and killing increase. Another is pestilence. Its cause is mostly the corruption of the air9 when the population is large, because so much rot and foul moisture mixes with the air. The air feeds the animal spirit10 and is always in contact with it. So when the air is corrupted, the corruption passes into the spirit’s temperament.11 If the corruption is strong, the sickness strikes the lungs. These are the plagues, and their diseases belong to the lungs. If the corruption is less strong and widespread, rot builds up and multiplies. Then fevers spread through the temperaments, and bodies sicken and die.

9. The belief that disease spread through foul or poisoned air, often from rot or swamps.
10. In the medicine of the time, a fine vapor formed in the heart from the blood and the air breathed in, which carried life through the body.
11. The mix of hot, cold, wet, and dry qualities that doctors believed each body (and each part of it) had to keep in balance for health.

وسبب كثرة العفن والرطوبات الفاسدة في هذا كله كثرة العمران ووفوره آخر الدولة لما كان في أوائلها من حسن الملكة ورفقها وقلة المغرم وهو ظاهر ولهذا تبين في موضعه من الحكمة أن تخلل الخلاء والقفر بين العمران ضروري ليكون تموج الهواء يذهب بما يحصل في الهواء من الفساد والعفن بمخالطة الحيوانات ويأتي بالهواء الصحيح ولهذا أيضا فإن الموتان يكون في المدن الموفورة العمران أكثر من غيرها بكثير كمصر بالمشرق وفاس بالمغرب والله يقدر ما يشاء

And the cause of the abundance of putrefaction and corrupt moistures in all this is the abundance and fullness of population at the end of the dynasty, because of what there was at its beginnings of good rule and gentleness and few exactions; and that is evident. And for this it has been made clear in its place in philosophy that the interspersing of empty space and waste land between populated places is necessary, so that the motion of the air may carry off what happens in the air of corruption and putrefaction through contact with animals, and bring healthy air. And for this also the deaths are in cities abundant in population much more than in others, like Miṣr in the East and Fez in the Maghrib. And God determines what He wills.

The cause of so much rot and foul moisture in all this is the large population at the end of a dynasty. It grew because the dynasty, in its early days, ruled well and gently and taxed lightly. This is plain. For this reason, as is shown in its place in philosophy,12 there must be empty space and open country between settlements. Then the movement of the air can carry off the corruption and rot that living things give to the air, and bring in healthy air. This is also why deaths are far more frequent in crowded cities than elsewhere, as in Cairo in the East and Fez in the Maghrib. God decrees what he wills.

12. Arabic ḥikma, “wisdom”: philosophy and the natural sciences, medicine among them, as learned from the Greeks.