Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 - 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab scholar, historian, philosopher, and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and is considered by a number of scholars to be a major forerunner of historiography, sociology, economics, and demography studies.

His best-known book is the Muqaddimah or Prolegomena