Ibn Khaldun also emphasized on the Islamic Monetary System that the currency or money should have intrinsic value. And it should be made up of Gold and Silver i.e. Gold dinar and Silver Dirham. He also emphasized that the weight and purity of these coins should be strictly followed. As the weight of one dinar should be one mithqal i.e. equal the weight of 72 grains of barley (equals to almost 4.25 grams) and the weight of 7 dinar should be equal to weight of 10 Dirhams (which equal 7/10 of Mithqal or 2.975 grams). And according to him these coins must be used in laws concerning the charity tax (Zakat), marriage (fees), fixed legal fines, and other things.[20]
| The dirham and the dinar differ in value and weight in different regions, cities, and provinces. The religious law has had occasion to refer to these (coins) and has mentioned them in connection with many laws concerning the charity tax, marriage (fees), fixed legal fines, and other things. Therefore, the religious law must have its own (dirham and dinar) with a specific value given to them by (the religious law itself) and agreeing with the intention of (the religious law). These coins are then the ones to which the laws refer. They are different from the non-legal (coins).[21] |
| Ibn Khaldun on Islamic Monetary Economics |
| The Revelation undertook to mention them and attached many judgements to them, for examplezakat, marriage, and hudud, etc., therefore within the Revelation they have to have a reality and specific measure for assessment of zakat, etc. upon which its judgements may be based rather than on the non-shari'i other coins. Know that there is consensus since the beginning of Islam and the age of the Companions and the Followers that the dirham of the shari'ah is that of which ten weigh seven mithqals weight of the dinar of gold... The weight of a mithqal of gold is seventy-two grains of barley, so that the dirham which is seven-tenths of it is fifty and two-fifths grains. All these measurements are firmly established by consensus[22] |
| Ibn Khaldun on Gold dinar and Silver Dirham as Money |
Legacy[edit]
Ibn Khaldun was first brought to the attention of the Western world in 1697, when a biography of him appeared in Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville's Bibliothèque Orientale. Ibn Khaldun began gaining more attention from 1806, when Silvestre de Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe included his biography together with a translation of parts of the Muqaddimah as the Prolegomena.[27] In 1816, de Sacy again published a biography with a more detailed description on the Prolegomena.[28] More details on and partial translations of the Prolegomena emerged over the years until the complete Arabic edition was published in 1858, followed by a complete French translation a few years later by de Sacy.[29] Since then, the work of Ibn Khaldun has been extensively studied in the Western world with special interest.[30]
- British historian Arnold J. Toynbee called the Muqaddimah "a philosophy of historywhich is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place."[31]
- The British philosopher Robert Flint wrote the following on Ibn Khaldun: "as a theoristof history he had no equal in any age or country until Vico appeared, more than three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine were not his peers, and all others were unworthy of being even mentioned along with him".
- Abderrahmane Lakhsassi writes: "No historian of the Maghreb since and particularly of the Berbers can do without his historical contribution."[32]
- The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition of government, "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history of political theory.[33]
- Egon Orowan, who termed the concept of socionomy, was influenced by Ibn Khaldun's ideas on the evolution of societies.[34]
- Arthur Laffer, whom the Laffer curve is named after, noted that, among others, some of Ibn Khaldun's ideas precede his own.[35]
- In 2004, the Tunisian Community Center launched the first Ibn Khaldun Award to recognize a Tunisian/American high achiever whose work reflects Ibn Khaldun's ideas of kinship and solidarity. The Award was named after Ibn Khaldun for him being universally acknowledged as the Father of Sociology and also for the convergence of his ideas with the organization's objectives and programs.
- In 2006, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation launched an annual essay contest [1][dead link] for Muslim students named in Ibn Khaldun's honor. The theme of the contest is "how individuals, think tanks, universities and entrepreneurs can influence government policies to allow the free market to flourish and improve the lives of its citizens based on Islamic teachings and traditions."[this quote needs a citation]
- In 2006, Spain commemorated the 600th anniversary of the death of Ibn Khaldun. [2]
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