Abstract
Ibn Khadun's famous Preface (Muqaddima) to the political history of the Islamic world looks back at the stormy development of the state since the beginning of Islamic politics and reflects upon and and theoretically illuminates the reasons for wars, coups and civilization crises with the aim to explain the functioning principles of a State and political authority in general. He suggests not only an original theory with an empirical basis, which is often referred to as founding text of modern sociology, but also an original view on governance in the Islamic Middle Ages and while also being the the pinnacle of a tradition of a genre of a political council.