Abstract
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) and Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) lived more than a century apart. Ibn Khaldun’s intellectual formation was complex, but his central beliefs were simple. He held that the glory of God was celebrated in the continual advance of Islam through conquest and through competition between Muslim aspirants to achieve this aim. Machiavelli was also born into a conflict-torn world in which Christian ideals and reasons of state lived uneasily. Their thought is contrasted.
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