On the Rise & Fall of Civilizations - Part 2 [Translated Extract]
Part two of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah: it is the nature of political leadership to claim all nobility for itself — and how that hastens a state's end.
Chapter 3. Part 13:
It is the nature of political leadership to attain all nobility for itself. When this becomes deep-rooted and luxuries and meekness are attained, the state has approached its end.
This can be explained in various ways.
The First
It is inherently the nature of political leadership to demand all nobility for itself, as previously discussed. As long as nobility was shared among society and their efforts for it were as one, their aspirations in overpowering others and defending their land served as a model of high ambition and unyielding vigor. Their objective was to collectively seek honor. They considered death in the pursuit of glory, enticing, preferring death over humiliation.
But when a sole entity seeks the glory, it strikes at their ‘communal solidarity’ (asabiyah), reins in their freedoms, and lays claim to wealth only for itself. The people then become lazy for war, cowardly, dispirited, and incline towards lowliness and subjugation.
The next generation is nurtured upon this mindset. They consider whatever they receive from the government as a payment towards their maintenance and support – nothing else runs through their minds. Rarely would a man put his life on the line, even for a price. This causes weakness in the state and dismembers its power. The state then tends towards weakness and decrepitude because of the corruption of its ‘communal solidarity’, due to its people losing their might.
The Second
A second explanation is based on our proposition that political leadership necessitates luxury. Their people become accustomed to much affluence and their expenditure exceeds their means. Neither do the state’s revenues by taxation meet its expenditure. The poor are in ruins while the wealthy are absorbed in their opulence.
This tendency increases in later generations until all of their income falls short of their expenditure on luxuries and accustomed habits. The people’s condition deteriorates, echoing that of the needy. In turn, their leaders impose restrictions on spending on raids and wars, leaving the people unable to find a means to act otherwise. They fall in dire straits, with much of their wealth being seized so it can be possessed by the leader alone, or by his children, or by the power players of the state. It becomes difficult for the people to sustain themselves and their weakness invariably reflects back onto the leader.
Also, if luxuries proliferate within the state, and the peoples’ income is short of their needs and expenditure, the sultan is obliged to grant them more so that he can prevent discontent and reprieve them of their financial shortfall. But taxes are set at a fixed amount, not increased, or reduced. Even if the state’s revenue is increased by levying a new tax it too only increases revenues a limited amount (as opposed to increasing expenditures).
When these taxes are subsequently distributed in a greater amount to people who have had their spending habits and luxuries inflated, the number of soldiers dwindles compared to the amount before the tax increase (due to less funding available to them). But the habituation to luxuries and the escalated state expenditure on them only increases, and so soldiers decrease, again and again, until they reach their smallest size. As a result, the state’s defense declines and so does its overall strength.
Neighboring states now feel audacious enough to attack it, or those residing under its borders of various tribes and groups rise up against it. In the end, Allah allows the death, which He has decreed upon all His creation, to finally overtake it.
It is also the case that luxury and affluence corrupts one’s character due to being habituated to various vices and frivolous affairs. This will be further elaborated in the subsequent chapter on civilization. They lose the virtuous qualities that were a sign of a strong dynasty and indicative of its prowess. Instead, they become characterized by opposing, evil qualities. It is, hence, a harbinger of collapse and extinction, as per the divine design that Allah has established for His creation. The state abides to the precepts of destruction, weakens, and catches the chronic sicknesses of old age, until it ends with death.
The Third
It is the nature of political states to incline towards meekness and timidness. When their behavior and habit is dictated by meekness and ease, it becomes their second nature, their natural disposition. This is the way all habits become adopted. You will see their current generation consumed in luxury living, upon cushions of affluence and timidness. Their warrior like and nomadic traits are forgotten, which served as the bedrock of their dynasty due to the strength these traits provide. Gone is their aggressiveness, their riding through barren wastelands, or living upon unproductive lands. They cannot be distinguished from the common, city dwellers except by their culture and symbols. Thus, their defense crumbles and their strength wanes. Their courage is tamed, a malaise which falls upon the state, reflected in its donning of the garments of old age.
They continue to be dyed with the habits of luxury, civilization, settled living, meekness, and softness that permeates all their affairs. They submerge themselves within that lifestyle, far from nomadic living and its coarseness, pulling away from it bit by bit. Forgotten are the traits of courage and bravery in which defense and protection are ensured. They become dependent on others for protection if they can. Look at the history of nations whose accounts are in the books with you, you will find what I have mentioned to be accurate, no doubt.
If such decrepitude of luxury and ease befalls a state, it is possible that the political authority aligns with supporters or factions of a different people. These would be accustomed to coarser living and utilized as soldiers able to undertake warfare and endure difficulties such as scarcity and harshness. This would be a salve against the decay engulfing the dynasty – until Allah decrees its end.
This is what occurred in the Turkic state of the East. Most of the army was made up of Turkic slaves. The leaders chose imported slaves as soldiers and cavalry, who were bold for war and more resilient over adversities compared to their own children, who were a generation raised on the fine waters of comforts and under the shade of the sultan.
The same can be stated for the Almohad dynasty of North Africa. Their rulers would pick many of their soldiers from the Zanātah (from amongst the Amazigh tribes) and Arabs. They would overlook their own people who had grown acclimatized to luxuries. The state is thereby able to gain a new breath of live, safe from the encroaching decay. Yet, ultimately, it is Allah who inherits the earth and whoever is upon it.
- Excerpt from Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah. Translated by Omer Siddique.
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Originally published on the Dhikr Substack.