An article by Imran Hossain Naim, published on May 11, 2026, examines how Western scholarship has shaped and limited the understanding of Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century Muslim thinker and author of the 'Muqaddimah'. The writer argues that most readers encounter Ibn Khaldun through European interpretations rather than his original Arabic text, creating a gap between the authentic and the constructed versions of his thought. This gap, the article notes, stems from ignorance of Arabic, Eurocentrism, and the tension between modernity and religion.

The essay traces how Ibn Khaldun’s intellectual legacy was preserved and studied primarily in the West, while his birthplace in the Muslim world neglected institutional study of his works. It highlights how Orientalist scholars explored Ibn Khaldun for their own academic and political purposes, often filtering his ideas through Western theoretical lenses. The author cites scholars who note that Western academia tends to universalize European theories while marginalizing non-Western thinkers.

The piece concludes that Western discomfort with Ibn Khaldun’s religious identity reflects a broader hesitation to reconcile faith and science, revealing the persistent Eurocentric bias in global intellectual traditions.