THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A FREE MIND AND A SLAVE ONE
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Ibn Khaldun
One of Ibn Khaldun’s most profound statements
concerns the difference between
free minds
and
slave minds.
Ibn Khaldun, speaking about
the essence of intellectual freedom,
said:
A free person defends an idea,
no matter who expresses it.
A slave, on the other hand,
defends the person,
no matter their idea.
With these words,
Ibn Khaldun establishes the standard of
intellectual maturity:
the dividing line
between reason and thought.
A free person seeks
the truth wherever it may be found.
He is not concerned
with who said it,
but with what was said. He pursues the idea,
wherever it appears,
even if it comes
from the mouth of his adversary.
Like a slave,
he closes his mind,
to follow people, not ideas.
He sees only faces,
and only hears those he loves,
or those he has ordered to hear,
even if the idea is hollow,
even if it is not true.
PEACE ON EARTH
علي االر ًض السالم وفي الناس املسرة
Paying ON LAND
FRIEDEN WITH ERDEN
PACE SULLA TERRA
PAZ EN LA TIERRA
VREDE OP AARDE
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