Like many with gifted minds, Ibn Khaldun did not conform to bureaucratic expectations. His first job was not particularly inspiring. With more than a touch of sarcasm he wrote: ‘I filled this office [of calligrapher] … which consisted of writing in big characters the formulaic text at the end of letters and orders of the Sultan [of Tunis]: “Praise and Thanksgiving to God.”’ He had studied with the finest minds of North Africa. He had spent three years steeping himself in philosophy under the supervision of his master Al-Abili. Compared with his rich intellectual training, Ibn Khaldun found the job of calligrapher particularly boring. The devastations of the plague in Tunis did not help and must have made the city less and less inviting. For Ibn Khaldun, it was time to leave. The capital of the Hafsids was simply not the same after the death of Ibn Khaldun's parents and teachers.

Fired by what he termed the ‘ambitions of youth,’ Ibn Khaldun resolved to escape the dull confines of his birthplace. Little did he know that in the future, having become exhausted with political intrigue and adventure, he would look back upon that birthplace with a longing to return to the simple expectations of home.