Umran (civilisation)

Umran (civilisation, human settlement) in Ibn Khaldun is human association, and it is the subject of the science he set out in the Muqaddima. ²

Ibn Khaldun shows that man must associate, because the power of the individual falls short of obtaining his sustenance alone. Wheat, for example, needs grinding, kneading, and cooking, and tools from the smith, the carpenter, and the potter, so cooperation is necessary. ²

He also mentions people's need to defend themselves, and to have a restraining authority (wazi') that holds some of them back from others, because of the aggression in their natures. He notes that the obligation of prophethood is known through the Law, not through reason, and he attributes this to the doctrine of the early generations. ²

Ibn Khaldun holds that civilisation is the end and final stage of settlement, and that it heralds its decay. He compares this to a person reaching forty and then beginning to decline. When luxury comes, expenses increase, prices rise, markets stagnate, and poverty spreads. ³

He cites the saying transmitted from the people of distinction about planting the bitter orange, and he cites a verse on the destruction of the affluent towns. The number of the verse needs a further source.

Injustice heralds the ruin of settlement