There is also the subtitle, another couplet fitting the rhyme: fī Taʾrīkh al-ʿArab wa-l-Barbar, wa-Man ʿĀṣarahum min Dhawī ash-Shaʾn al-ʾAkbār (في تأريخ العرب والبربر ومن عاشرهم من ذوي الشأن الأكبر 'And the History of the Arabs and the Berbers and The Most Significant of Their Contemporaries).

[10] Perhaps the most frequently cited observation drawn from Ibn Khaldūn's work is the notion that when a society becomes a great civilization, its high point is followed by a period of decay.

He describes the economy as being composed of value-adding processes; that is, labor and skill is added to techniques and crafts and the product is sold at a higher value [dubious – discuss].

In Al-Muqaddimah Khaldun states, “Civilization and its well-being, as well as business prosperity, depend on productivity and people’s efforts in all directions in their own interest and profit”.

[15] Ibn Khaldun also believed that the currency of an Islamic monetary system should have intrinsic value and therefore be made of gold and silver (such as the dirham).

Herbert was also clearly influenced by Khaldun's thesis that nomads such as the Berbers and Mongols are powerful and can overrun stagnant societies, but become complacent themselves around four generations after the conquest.