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Was al-Maqrizi’s Khitat Khaldunian History? 119
ated that relationship at the level of mentor/student. 2 In fact, al-Maqr\z\ throughout
his extensive writing refers to Ibn Khaldun with utmost reverence, praises
his knowledge and compositions, and directly quotes from him many times, even
though the cocky Ibn Khaldun never mentions al-Maqr\z\ in his Muqaddima or his
own autobiographical text, al-Ta^rif. 3 Some modern scholars, like Robert Irwin,
focused their attention on the common interest of the two men in the wondrous
and in divination and the occult sciences in general, but distinguished between
their engagement in these „sciences.” 4 Others, such as Anne Broadbridge and
Sabri Jarrar, went further than stating the pedagogical and collegial connection
or the shared involvement in geomancy to detect a certain intellectual affinity between
the Khaldunian notions of history’s cyclical pattern and the method and
structure of several of al-Maqr\z\’s historical treatises. 5 But no one has thoroughly
examined the extent of the connection between the two men and its interpersonal,
emotional, and intellectual ramifications. Nor has the degree to which al-
Maqr\z\ absorbed and adapted Ibn Khaldun’s teachings in his writing, on the
level both of information and conceptualization, been critically assessed. This is
what I propose to sketch in this brief essay. I will begin by reviewing what we
know about the relationship between the two men and how they seem to have enjoyed
the support of the same patrons in Cairo, and had shared views on many
issues, both historical and ideological. Then I will move to analyzing how al-
Maqr\z\ adopted the interpretive structure of history proposed by Ibn Khaldun.
This adoption is apparent in many of al-Maqr\z\’s short treatises, but is especially
palpable in his most famous compendium al-Mawa^iz wa-l-i^tibar bi-dhikr al-khi-
2 Ma1mud al-Jal\l\, “Tarjamat Ibn Khaldun li-l-Maqr\z\,” Majallat al-Majma^ al-^Ilmi al-^Iraqi 13
(1965): 215–42. This extensive biography of Ibn Khaldun that al-Maqr\z\ penned has been republished
by Ma1mud al-Jal\l\ in his edition of the full manuscript of al-Maqr\z\’s Durar al-^uqud
al-farida fi tarajim al-a^yan al-mufida 4 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-Islam\, 2002), 2: 383–410.
At the end of the biography, al-Maqr\z\ says, “May God have mercy on his soul, for I have benefited
tremendously from him,” a phrase he uses only to describe his relations with honored
teachers and spiritual guides. In fact, al-Maqr\z\ calls Ibn Khaldun shaykhuna (our master) several
times in his texts.
3 Mu1ammad b. Taw\t al-Tanj\, Al-Ta^rif bi-Ibn Khaldun wa-rihlatahu gharban wa-sharqan
(Cairo: Lajnat al-Ta^l\f wa-l Tarjama wa-l-Nashr, 1951).
4 Robert Irwin, “Al-Maqr\z\ and Ibn Khaldun, Historians of the Unseen,” Mamluk Studies Review
(hereafter MSR) 7, 2 (2003): 217–30.
5 Anne F. Broadbridge, “Royal Authority, Justice, and Order in Society: The Influence of Ibn
Khaldun on the Writings of al-Maqrizi and Ibn Taghribirdi,” MSR 7, 2 (2003): 231–45; Sabri Jarrar,
“Al-Maqrizi’s Reinvention of Egyptian Historiography,” The Cairo Heritage: Essays in Honor
of Laila Ali Ibrahim, Doris Behrens-Abouseif, ed. (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press,
2000), 30–53.