Synopsis A comparative and critical study of the life of the historian and philosopher, Ibn Khaldun, acknowledged by Western critics to be the founder of modern sociology, his intellectual and social legacy, his method and style. The intellectual legacy of Ibn Khaldun is unique among the works of Muslim thought and, notwith-standing the lapse of centuries, still maintains its value, vigour and modernity, and occupies a high place among the monuments of world thought. But Ibn Khaldun, whom the West discovered and, for more than a century, studied, criticized and analysed, is not fully appreciated in the East his memory is forgotten and his legacy is cast into oblivion.  While in the West various books and critical studies have been written about the man and his work, there has almost been nothing of the sort in the East, his home and the owner of his patrimony.