`Asabiyya or asabiyah (Arabic: ?????, ?a?ab?ya) refers to social solidarity with an emphasis on unity, group consciousness, and social cohesion, originally in a context of "tribalism" and "clanism", but sometimes used for modern nationalism too. It was a familiar term in the pre-Islamic era, but became popularized in Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah where it is described as the fundamental bond of human society and the basic motive force of history. `Asabiyya is neither necessarily nomadic nor based on blood relations. In the modern period, the term is generally analogous to solidarity. However, the term is often negatively associated because it can sometimes suggest loyalty to one's group regardless of circumstances, or partisanship.

Ibn Khaldun argues, effectively, that each dynasty (or civilization) has within itself the seeds of its own downfall. He explains that ruling houses tend to emerge on the peripheries of great empires and use the much stronger `asabiyya present in those areas to their advantage, in order to bring about a change in leadership. This implies that the new rulers are at first considered "barbarians" by comparison to the old ones. As they establish themselves at the center of their empire, they become increasingly lax, less coordinated, disciplined and watchful, and more concerned with maintaining their new power and lifestyle at the centre of the empire -- i.e, their internal cohesion and ties to the original peripheral group, the `asabiyya, dissolves into factionalism and individualism, diminishing their capacity as a political unit. Thus, conditions are created wherein a new dynasty can emerge at the periphery of their control, grow strong, and effect a change in leadership, beginning the cycle anew.

It can be compared to Durkheim's mechanical solidarity as opposed to the organic solidarity which he suggests can be found in modern societies.

Bibliography

Ahmed, Akbar S. (2003). Islam under siege: living dangerously in a post-honor world. Cambridge: Polity.

Sources

F. Gabrieli, Il concetto della 'asabiyyah nel pensiero storico di Ibn Khaldun, Atti della R. Accad. delle scienze di Torino, lxv, 1930

"The Muqaddimah", Translated by F. Rosenthal (III, pp. 311-15, 271-4 [Arabic]; Richard Nelson Frye (p.91). He translated the Arabic word "Ajam" into "Persians".

Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, (1893) The Free Press reprint 1997, ISBN 0684836386

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