The Grand Critic of Ibn Khaldun

Ibn al-Azraq (d. 896/1491) was a renowned Andalusian jurist (faqih) and statesman who lived during the final period of the Nasrid emirate of Granada. His most famous work, Bada?i? al-Silk fi ?aba?i? al-Mulk (Unprecedented Lines about the Nature of Political Rule), is a political treatise that builds upon Ibn Khaldun's (d. 808/1406) social theory (?ilm al-?umran). In The grand critic of Ibn Khaldun Elena Sahin critically analyses the major aspects of Ibn al-Azraq's political thought.

In this contribution on the field of the history of Islamic political thought, Elena Sahin demonstrates that while Ibn al-Azraq integrates the thrust of Ibn Khaldun's approach, Ibn al-Azraq's work should be regarded as part of a larger conversation amongst various scholars, engaging, for example with the Andalusian jurist al-Sha?ibi's (d. 790/1388) theory of Maqa?id al-Shari?a. Widening the analysis of Ibn al-Azraq's work illuminates that Ibn al-Azraq's political theory was in opposition to that of Ibn Khaldun, and thus gives us a better understanding of the dynamic debates within Andalusian political thought.