22

Turkestan Chinois/Xinjiang: Musique Ouigoures
music of Uighurs of NW China; Turkic-speaking
-use of maqam modes

Ibn Khaldun, 354-358, 398-405, 411-426
15. An exposition of ambiguity in the Qur'an and the Sunnah and of the resulting dogmatic schools among both the orthodox and the innovators.

Qur. 3:7 (trans. Yusuf Ali)

He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning) ["clear in meaning" in Ibn Khaldun]; they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical ["ambiguous" in Ibn Khaldun]. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings [ta'wil ] except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.

Esoteric (inner)
Alternate punctuation:

but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge. [Others] say: "We believe in the Book...

30. A refutation of philosophy. The corruption of the students of philosophy.

al-Ghazali (d. 1111), The Refutation of the Philosophers

condemned three philosophical theses that seem to contradict revelation:

the eternity (uncreated character) of the world
God knows only universals, not particular details
resurrection is spiritual, not physical (Ibn Khaldun, 405)

Ibn Rushd or Averroes (d. 1198), The Refutation of the Refutation;
The Decisive Treatise on the Difference between Religion and Philosophy

treats philosophy as a religious obligation for the elite, but forbidden to the masses (using both punctuations of 3:7); interpreted in more extreme fashion by Latin Averroists as doctrine of "two truths" (one philosophical, one religious)
he was banished near Cordoba and his books burned by order of the Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya`qub, his patron; but he was pardoned and reinstated on his return to Marrakesh

Question: why does Ibn Khaldun criticize philosophy so strongly? What does this say about his audience?

33. The purposes that must be borne in mind in literary composition that alone are to be considered valid.

the invention of a science
interpreting difficulties in works of the ancients
correcting something in tradition
completing things that have been omitted
improving on the organization of knowledge
synthesizing a subject across disciplines
abridging lengthy works

34. The great number of scholarly works available is an obstacle on the path to attaining scholarship
35. The great number of brief handbooks available on scholarly subjects is detrimental to the process of instruction
36. The right attitude in scientific instruction and toward the method of giving such instruction

advice to the student (418)

37. Study of the auxiliary sciences should not be prolonged, and their problems should not be treated in detail
38. The instruction of children and the different methods employed in the Muslim cities
39. Severity to students does them harm.
40. A scholar's education is greatly improved by traveling in quest of knowledge and meeting the authority teachers at his tim

Question: what reforms of education does Ibn Khaldun have in mind, and why?