Sitting in the Tunisian capital at the end of a politically and socially turbulent year, it feels entirely right and proper to peruse the Muqaddimah, the 14th century tome by the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun. He was a son of Tunis and an itinerant government official of great perspicacity.
Ibn Khaldun served as a judge in Cairo, a confidante of sorts to Tamerlane, the fearsome self-appointed heir to the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, and employed his precise legal mind to understand aspects of the human condition.
Two years ago Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg publicly chose the Muqaddimah as his book club pick, describing it as an interesting lookback after “700 years of progress”. It is not certain Ibn Khaldun would have taken so sanguine a view of where we stand today, at least in terms of the US, the world’s wealthiest, most militarily powerful country.
With his Islamic history of the pre-modern world, Ibn Khaldun, as the book’s publisher put it, established the foundations of several fields of knowledge. These are said to include the philosophy of history, sociology and ethnography. At a base level though, he seems to be doing something that behavioural economists try so hard to accomplish, namely understanding the impulses that trigger human actions.
Ibn Khaldun thought human actions could make or destroy civilisation, which he saw as a bit of a conundrum. What is it? Is it the fundamental difference between urban and primitive, the tension between nomad and merchant, rural and urban, orality and literacy?
In the age of Donald Trump, it seems especially important to ask, what is civilisation? Is it learned behaviour? Is it civility, courtesy, manners and kindness to strangers? Is it rule of law and good governance? Is it refinement, not as an affectation, but in the encouragement of the best of human behaviour?
These are pertinent questions three days after the Trump administration quit taking part in talks on a proposed United Nations agreement to improve the handling of global flows of migrants and refugees. The US said the Global Compact on Migration would be a subversion of American sovereignty, even though advocates for migrants' rights pointed out that it was not meant to be a mandatory deal, just an assessment of the problem.
Six months after the US became the only country in the world to reject another major UN agreement – the Paris deal on climate change – the growing impression is of a rich, self-obsessed society seeking to disassociate from the general principles of law, ethics and morality that bind civilised nations.
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Two developing news stories underscore the internal challenges America faces to its claim of being eminently civilised. First, the impending legislative overhaul of taxation, with the richest set to profit the most, churches able to engage in dangerously partisan political fundraising, public health and education provision under threat and at least US$1 trillion added to the federal deficit over the next 10 years. These massive changes to US tax law are not really only about the economy but about key aspects of society – how it worships, does politics, teaches its children, cares for the sick and strives to live within its means.
Second, there is the upcoming election for the US Senate in the southern state of Alabama. The candidate run by the state’s dominant Republican Party is bedevilled by allegations that he abused teenagers but has still been able to gain Mr Trump’s public endorsement. He might win on December 12, casting a long shadow on the mostly shiny narrative so far of a political system that prizes morality and character over more base considerations.
Taxation and elections go to the heart of what it is to be a civilised society. Or not. “Human social organisation is something necessary. Without it, the existence of human beings would be incomplete. This is what civilisation means,” Ibn Khaldun was writing in 1377. But once achieved, he cautioned, there is no guarantee it will endure. “Excessive sedentary culture and luxury…corrupt the city generally in respect of business and civilisation…immorality, wrongdoing, insincerity and trickery increase…the affairs of individuals one by one deteriorate, the town becomes disorganised and falls into ruin.”
Ibn Khaldun was using the city, or polis, to refer to a sovereign political unit but in almost every other sense, his diagnosis of civilisation may have been preternaturally pertinent.
For Mr Trump, the greatest threat to civilisation is the “other”. In Poland, en route to the G20’s July summit in Hamburg, he focused on the external challenges faced by America and the West. "The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive," he declared.
But how it survives matters and it is in this context that a long-dead Tunisian historian’s world view seems apt for the US as 2017 draws to a close.
RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
beabadoobee
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
