Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
~ 148 ~
historiography should come under the influence of
this concept of the ‘divine right of the kings’ so that,
in practice, it became a chronicle of the lives of royal
families with scant reference to the common man.
With the onset of the Islamic revolution in Arabia
and neighbouring countries, objects of nature like
the sun and moon were dislodged from their divine
pedestals. In link manner, kings were removed
from the seat of extraordinary greatness. Now a
king was just a human being like any other.
The influence of the Islamic revolution, which ulti-
mately reached Asia, Africa and many European
countries, paved the way for a new atmosphere on a
universal scale. With the new way of thinking, the
old king-centred mentality gave way to a man-
centred ethos. Prominent expression was given to a
new approach to historiography in the writings of
Abdur Rahman Ibn Khaldun, who in the foreword
to his
Kitab al-Ibar,
propounded his theory of how
history should be written. This foreword, or
Muqaddamah,
is considered so important that it has
been published many times in several languages.
