Abstract:
The Pen and the Sword: Ibn Khaldûn and the problematic of war In this study, we shed some lights on the idea of war in the Al-Muqqaddima of Ibn Khaldûn and its ways of manifestations in power and governance. We could specify three essential points for understanding Ibn Khaldûn's theory of war. - The first point pointed out the subjection of the phenomenon to political practice. - The second point is related to the strategy of war and the three types of combat, through three forms: firstly, the march in lines and the continuous offensive until the annihilation of the enemy; secondly, combat by way of hit-and-run. It is the combat of the Berber Arabs consisting of a continuous movement: attack, defense and escape; thirdly, mobilization in which the armies are divided into groups in accordance with the natural order of the four directions. - The third point is related to the purpose of war by which is meant victory or the strategy of triumph. Thus, with Ibn Khaldûn, for the first time in the arab and islamic thought, thinking moves away from advices in war and does not limit itself to narration and the description of battles and conquests. Although, we do not find in his text an affirmation of autonomy for this science, however there is an earnest attempt at abstraction and theorization. With Ibn Khaldûn the battle becomes an important field for theorization linked to the field of politics and power and to the field of civilization and society.
