Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Laws of Sociology
Social phenomena seem to obey laws which, though not so absolute as those governing natural phenomena, are sufficiently regular to cause social changes and follow well-developed patterns and rythms. Hence a grasp of these laws would enable the sociologist to understand and predict the direction of social processes around him.
Secondly, these laws operate with regard to masses only and would not be significantly determined with reference to single individuals, for the individuals’ own attitudes and beliefs are considerably conditioned by the social environment in which they are placed. The ’leaders’ by themselves, without the social forces already immanent in the structure of a society, cannot bring about any substantial social changes.
Thirdly, these laws can be determined only by gathering social data on a very large scale and by working out their concomitants and patterns. The social data may be gathered from either of the two sources, viz. faithful records of the past events and careful observations of the present ones.
~’’ Ibn Khaldun \vas undoubted!} a sociologically -minded historian He \vas conscious ol the ongmaliu of his uork and claimed himself to be the discoverer for the fiist time ol the laws of national pi ogress and deca>. see Ihe Muqaddimah. I nuhsh ti.uislation I oieuord. 1’P 10 et sq
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Fourthly, much the same set of laws operate in societies with similar structures and antecedents, howsoever widely separated they may be in place or time.
Fifthly, societies are essentially dynamic like the living organisms.” The social forms change and evolve. The factor which, more than any other, determines this change, Ibn Khaldun holds almost in the McDougallean fashion, to be the contact between different peoples or groups and the consequent mutual imitation and assimilation of cultural traditions and institutions.
Finally, the above laws, he adds emphatically, have their own unique nature, i.e. they are specifically sociological laws and not merely reflections of biological impulses or physical forces. Ibn Khaldun sees this point clearly and. although he makes allowance for environmental factors such as climate and food, he gives much greater importance to such social factors as cohesion of interests, occupation, religion, education, etc. A careful study of the Muqaddimah reveals many more points where Ibn Khaldun anticipates modern sociologists: for example, in his use of mechanistic concepts such as the balance offerees or the radiation of energy; his understanding of social morphology and its growth and decay almost in biological terms; his keen realization of the economic factors influencing the structure and growth of society, etc. Philosophy, Its Dangers and Limitations
Ibn Khaldun’s philosophical views and his attitude towards philosophy may be gathered from the few sections scattered in his ’Prolegomena entitled, ”Science of Logic.” ’Dialectics,’ ”The Dangers and Fallacies of Philosophy.’’ Metaphysics,’ etc.
Logic
Ibn Rushd gave logic the highest place in the domain of knowledge and felt sorry that Socrates and Plato could not be aware of Aristotle’s logic. Ibn Khaldun pulls logic down from this high place, calls it merely an auxiliary or instrumental science and feels sorry that so much time in the educational institutions should be given to the study of this subject. Logic at its best sharpens the mind of a student,25 but more often than not it makes him only clever and pedantic and not a genuine seeker after truth. Its function is essentially a negative one: it helps us only in knowing v\hat is not
’M Saeed Sheikh. P 213
’ The Muqaddimah. 1 nghsh tianslation. \ o

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890 Political and Cultural History of Islam
true, but not what is true. Logic does not give us any positive knowledge with regard to a particular branch of study; for this we have to resort to observations and experiences, our own and those of others. A genius or a man endowed with scientific talent would generally think logically enough without any formal training in logic. On the other hand, a scholar, in spite of his discipline in logic, may commit many logical fallacies in his actual thinking. Even a professional logician may not be immune from them, and here the modern reader may be easily reminded of the example of J.S. Mill. Dialectics
Dialectics is the use of reason and rhetoric to establish the truth of the dogmas of religion and thus amounts to a sort of scholastic philosophy. Dialectics too. like logic, according to Ibn Khaldun, is only an instrumental science and performs merely a negative function. Tracing the history of ’Ilm al-Kalam in Muslim thought, Ibn Khaldun observes that it originated only as a weapon of defence against the atheists and the non-Muslims who attacked the doctrines of Islam.26 Ibn Khaldun does not doubt its serviceability as ’a weapon of defence’. But he adds that though dialectics can very well disprove the arguments against the doctrines of religion, it can hardly offers any conclusive arguments to establish the truth of these doctrines. With dialectics we may silence the sceptic and yet fail to convince him and make him religious-minded. Dialectics should not be supposed to prove truths of religion, for that is beyond the scope of logical argumentation. Besides, dialectics is often reduced to mere rhetoric of the worst kind. A dialectician is often lost in the subtleties and sophistries of words and thus tracks off the path of truth. He is generally tempted to show off his own mastery of, and skill in, words rather than seek the truth; truth thus becomes concealed under the over dressings of the verbal foliage with him. Dangers and Fallacies of Philosophy
Right in the beginning of this section in the ’Prolegomena’ Ibn Khaldun declares philosophy to be dangerous to religion. The dangers of Philosophy, according to him, are mainly due to the various presumptions and prepossessions of the philosophers; these indeed are false or at least unfounded, yet they do much harm. Some of them he mentions as follows:
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(i) Philosophy is competent enough to understand and interpret the truths of religion and is thus capable of being reconciled with it.
(ii) The salvation of human soul is possible merely through philosophical cogitation.
(in) In the graded series of emanations from God to the world God is directly related only to the first item of that series, namely, the First Intelligence.