rumours of an uprising at home, deserted his army and fled, after which the rest of the army followed him in small groups to Egypt.
Tamerlane had heard, probably through his numerous spies in the city, that Ibn Khaldûn was with Faraj’s army, and he
“ T 326-30.
• T 331-35- Cf. Ibn al-Furfit Ta’rtkh IX i6o. ' Ibn Taghrîbirdî Nujûm V I 41-49. • B q V 436, 444, T439-50. ‘ T 366.
• Ibn Taghribirdî Nujûm V I 45-46, 47, 49, 50, 51 ff., 57, 59; T 351 ff. Ibn Taghrîbirdî describes the Egyptians as ‘ an army without a general and a general without an army ’ .
enquired about him from the delegation that came to negotiate the surrender of Damascus. Ibn Khaldûn was among those who favoured the surrender. He was afraid of some rash action by those who opposed his stand and asked to be allowed to leave the city. He was lowered down from the walls and reached Tamerlane’s tent where he was presented to the invader.* Ibn Khaldûn stayed in Tamerlane’s camp for thirty-five days, and the conversation between the great conqueror and the great scholar remains one of the most interesting interviews recorded in history.® Tamer lane was extremely interested in meeting an important personahty from the western parts of the Islamic world, and there was a great deal of information he wanted to know about these regions. His questions and arguments were sharp, direct, and pene trating.® Ibn Khaldûn, on his part, drew upon the experience of his long career to meet the challenge. He had had many encoun ters in which he had had to pretend, deceive, and mislead rulers, but had never discussed so many things in such a short time and with such a sharp-witted man, and never had he succeeded with such mastery, never had he shown greater wit. As we ob serve the way he conducted himself in this conversation, we have ^ the distinct feeling that his past failures in North Africa and Spain had not been in vain. Through them, he had gained the wisdom he was searching for, a wisdom that could stand the testing fire of Tamerlane and emerge triumphant.
As Tamerlane started to question him, Ibn Khaldûn instantly surmised that the conqueror had a single purpose which he followed persistently and with determination : he wanted to find the weaknesses of Egypt and the West, which could be of use if the possibility of conquering them offered itself. Ibn Khaldûn' answered in a composed spirit, but pursued his objective with equal determination and persistency: to paint a simple, consis tent, and convincing picture of these regions, a picture that did not betray even one of their many weaknesses which he probably
“ T368, 381.
* The section of T dealing with Ibn Khaldûn’s encounter with Tamerlane has been translated with copious and informative notes by W. J. Fischel: Ibn
Khaldûn and Tamerlane (Berkeley 1952) 29-48. I agree with Professor Fischel (Und. 1-3) in doubting most of the information concerning this encounter
reported by Ibn ‘Arabshâh (‘A jâ ’ib 2 1 1 - 1 4 , 439-43) and Hajji Khalifa (Kashf II loi [No. 2085]).
» T
369
ff., 382.knew better than any other living person. Ibn Khaldûn was finally asked to write a detailed description of the West in such a manner that when the conqueror read it, it would be as if he were seeing the region. This was done in a few days.“ We do not, and may never, know what this little book contained. But if our interpretation of the meeting between the two is correct, it did not contain much about the political situation of North Africa, or any other subject that might have encouraged Tamer lane to conquer this region.® In the next meeting the same pattern was repeated, except that Ibn Khaldûn, having had time to think about the situation, assumed the offensive which he executed with a mastery comparable to that which he had demonstrated in their first meeting. He praised the conqueror, complimented him on all he said, and told him about the greatness and virtues of his people. He had asked his aides about what pleased the conqueror most, and came back with gifts to him. Then he started to circle slowly around his final purpose: to ask, and succeed in having Tamerlane allow him to leave in peace for Egypt. Finally, he succeeded in freeing himself and many of his Egyptian friends who then accompanied him to Cairo.®
During the last seven years of his life in Egypt, Ibn Khaldûn continued to be active as a scholar and a Judge. He wrote the last chapters of his Autobiography and made new marginal additions to his ‘ History ’ . He was four times reappointed as the Mâlikite Grand Judge, the last reappointment coming about one month before his sudden death on March 17, 1406/Ramadân 15, 808.*
“ T 270, 274-
‘ This purpose was also behind Ibn Khaldûn's concurrence with Tamerlane’s aide, ‘Abd al-Jabbâr Ibn al-Nu‘mân, on the illegality of the claims of the ‘Abbâ- sid pretender who presented himself to Tamerlane as the legitimate CaUph (T 374;-75)- A Caliph-designate could be a useful asset in the event of Tamer lane’s invasion of Egypt.
» Ibn Khaldûn did not tell Tamerlane about the loss of his family. 'That would have led to many embarrassing questions, as to why they were detained in Tunis, etc. He left him with the impression that his family was in Egypt (T 277, 279). Ibn ‘Arabshâh, who knew Tamerlane’s character intimately, uses his meeting with Ibn Khaldûn as a dramatic example of the conqueror’s shrewdness in evaluating men. In concentrating on Tamerlane, however, he misses the si^iiicance of the meeting so far as Ibn Khaldûn was concerned, and underestimates the possible use of his knowledge of the West for the conqueror (‘A jd ’ib 439-43).
* Ibn Taghribirdî Nujûm V I 76.
5. During the quarter of the century that Ibn Khaldûn spent