The History of Why

Concept

2 readings

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Asabiyya

Concept · 2 readings

Asabiyya is a mutual readiness to defend and support one another, including ties beyond ancestry. It can enable rule, but that does not make domination just.

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2 readings · Title A–Z

  • Guided course · Module 8 · Lesson 41

    Can a society explain its own changes?

    Ibn Khaldun explains how solidarity, asabiyya, can carry a group to power, and how success changes a ruler’s relationships. What evidence could support this explanation of political change?

  • Guided course · Module 8 · Lesson 47

    Testing inherited authority in Ethiopia

    The Hatata gives religious reasons for testing inherited belief. Its unresolved authorship is a separate question from the strength of its reasoning.