This book is an introduction to the life and times of Ibn Khaldun, the 14th century Maghribi master of the Muqaddimah. His unique philosophy of history was eloquently laid out in the Muqaddimah ('Introduction'), a book that, in the words of the British historian, Arnold J. Toynbee, is 'undoubtedly, the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place.'