Ibn Hazm

 

Andalusian Philosophers Medieval Philosophy
Name	Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm
Birth	November 7, 994 (Córdoba, Al Andalus (Spain))
Death	August 15, 1064[1] 456 AH [2] (Manta Lisham, near Huelva, Spain)
School/tradition	Islamic philosophy
Main interests	Metaphysics (incl. Theology), Ethics

Ibn Hazm (7 November 994–15 August 1064^[1] 456 AH^[2]) in full Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm (Arabic :أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم) - sometimes with al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī as well^[3] was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher, litterateur, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present-day Spain.^[4] He was a leading proponent of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought and produced a reported 400 works of which only 40 still survive, covering a range of topics such as jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, and theology, as well as the The Ring of the Dove, on the art of love.^[4]

Lineage

Ibn Hazm was born into a notable family - his grand father Sa'id and his father Ahmad both held high positions in the court of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham II^[5]- and professed a Persian genealogy.^[6] However scholars believe that Iberian converts adopted such genealogies to better identify with the Arabs and favor evidence that points to an Christian Iberian family background hailing from Manta Lisham (near Sevilla).^[6]

Career

From the death of the grand vizier al-Muzaffar in 1008 the Caliphate of Cordoba became embroiled in a civil war that lasted until 1031 resulting in its collapse and the emergence of many smaller states called the Taifa's.^[6] Ibn Hazm's father died in 1012 and Ibn Hazm continued to support the Umayyads, for which he was frequently imprisoned.^[6] By 1031 Ibn Hazm retreated to his family estate and Manta Lisham and had begun to express his activist convictions in the literary form.^[6]

He served as a minister in the government multiple times, under different caliphs. He used to serve under the Umayyad Caliphs of Córdoba, and was known to have worked under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, Hajib (Grand Vizier) to the last of the Ummayad caliphs, Hisham III.

According to a saying of the period, "the tongue of Ibn Hazm was a twin brother to the sword of al-Hajjaj" (a famous 7th century general and governor of Iraq)^[6] and he became so frequently quoted that the phrase “Ibn Hazm said” became proverbial.^[6]

He opposed the allegorical interpretation of religious texts, preferring instead a grammatical and syntactical interpretation of the Qur'an. He granted cognitive legitimacy only to revelation and sensation and considered deductive reasoning insufficient in legal and religious matters. He did much to revitalize the Zahiri madhhab, which denied the legitimacy of legal rulings based upon qiyas (analogy) and focused upon the literal meanings of legal injunctions in the Qur'an and hadith. Many of his rulings differed from those of his Zahiri predecessors, and consequently Ibn Hazm's followers are sometimes described as comprising a distinct madhhab.

Quotes

In an effort to explain sensual matters between man and woman, Ibn Hazm eloquently noted:

“

I will describe something to you which you may readily enough observe with your own eyes. I have never seen the woman who, happening to be in some place where she senses that a man is looking at her or listening to her voice, does not make some wholly superfluous gesture, remote from her usual habit, or offer some entirely gratuitous remark with which she would otherwise have dispensed, in either case quite at variance with how she was talking or behaving immediately before. I have noticed – and indeed the matter is only too apparent and obvious, and there is no concealing it – that she will take great pains how she articulates her words, and will pay elaborate attention to the manner in which she varies her postures. It is the same with men, as soon as they sense a presence of ladies.[7]

”

Works

(major works in bold)

• Al-Akhlâq wa’l-Siyar (Morals and Behaviour) [1]
• Al-fasl fil al-Milal wal-Nihal (on Sects)
• Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions) The only book of his Legal rulings existent to date.
• Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam His work on jurisprudential principles or Usul Al Fiqh.
• Tawq al­-hamamah (The Dove's Necklace) or (Ring of the Dove)[2]

• Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual ^[8].

In classical Arabic literacy, the dove was symbolized with being a symbol of love, or romance. The ring itself refers to a necklace around the neck. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to be a way to add adornment to your love. The work is inspired by 'ishq (defined by Hakim Bey as "crazed hopeless passion"), and treats equally of desire both for males and females but cautions the reader against breaking religious injunctions and praises remaining chaste.

Al-Dhahabi lists the following catalogue of Ibn Hazm's works:

1. Al-Isal ila Fahm Kitab al-Khisal in 15,000 folios.
2. Al-Khisal al-Hafiz li Jumal Shara'i` al-Islam in two volumes.
3. Al-Mujalla in two volumes.
4. Al-Muhalla in eight volumes.
5. Hujja al-Wada` in one volume.
6. Qisma al-Khumus fi al-Radd `ala Isma`il al-Qadi in one volume.
7. Al-Athar al-Lati Zahiruha al-Ta`arud wa Nafyi al-Tanaqud `Anha in 10,000 folios, unfinished.
8. Al-Jami` Fi Sahih al-Hadith, without chains of transmission.
9. Al-Talkhis wa al-Takhlis fi al-Masa'il al-Nazariyya
10. Ma Infarada Bihi Malik aw Abu Hanifa aw al-Shafi`I
11. Ikhtilaf al-Fuqaha' al-Khamsa Malik wa Abi Hanifa wa al-Shafi`i wa Ahmad wa Dawud [al-Zahiri]
12. Al-Tasaffuh fi al-Fiqh in one volume.
13. Al-Tabyin fi Hal `Alima al-Mustafa A`yan al-Munafiqin in 3 tomes.
14. Al-Imla' fi Sharh al-Muwatta' in 1,000 folios.
15. Al-Imla' fi Qawa`id al-Fiqh in 1,000 folios.
16. Durr al-Qawa`id fi Fiqh al-Zahiriyya in 1,000 folios.
17. Al-Ijma` in one small volume.
18. Al-Fara'id in one volume.
19. Al-Risala al-Balqa' fi al-Radd `ala `Abd al-Haqq ibn Muhammad al-Saqali in one small volume.
20. Al-Ihkam li Usul al-Ahkam in two volumes.
21. Al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Nihal in two large volumes.
22. Al-Radd `Ala man I`tarada `ala al-Fisal in one volume.
23. Al-Yaqin fi Naqd al-Mu`tadhirin `an Iblis wa Sa'ir al-Mushrikin in one large volume.
24. Al-Radd `ala Ibn Zakariyya al-Razi in 100 folios.
25. Al-Tarshid fi al-Radd `Ala Kitab al-Farid li Ibn al-Rawandi fi I`tiradihi `ala al-Nubuwwat in one volume.
26. Al-Radd `ala Man Kaffara al-Muta'awwilin min al-Muslimin in one volume.
27. Mukhtasar fi `Ilal al-Hadith in one volume.
28. Al-Taqrib li Hadd al-Mantiq bi al-Alfaz al-`Ammiyya in one volume.
29. Al-Istijlab in one volume.
30. Nasab al-Barbar in one volume.
31. Naqt al-`Arus in one small volume.

Ibn Hazm also wrote more than ten books on medicine. Among his translated works:

al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus (Morals and Right Conduct in the Healing of Souls"), six Tawq al-Hamama fi al-Ulfa wa al-Ullaf ("The Ring of the Dove: Love and Lovers"), 7 Maratib al-`Ulum ("The Categories of the Sciences"), eight al-Mujalla, nine and - partially - partial translations of his al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal ("The Separators Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects"). ^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Ibn Hazm. The Ring of the Dove: A Treatise on the Art and Practice of Arab Love. Trans. A. J. Arberry. Luzac Oriental, 1997 ISBN 1-898942-02-1
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/scienceofhadith/asb2.html
3. ^ A. R. Nykl. "Ibn Ḥazm's Treatise on Ethics". The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 40, No. 1. (Oct., 1923), pp. 30-36.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Ibn Hazm." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 23 Oct. 2006
5. ^ The court was under the effective rule of the Grand Vizier's al-Mansur and his successor and son al-Muzaffar
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Ibn Hazm." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 23 Oct. 2006
7. ^ Tawq al-Hamâmah (Ring of the Dove), translated by A.J. Arberry
8. ^ http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/al_dhahabi.htm
9. ^ http://www.sunnah.org/history/Innovators/ibn_hazm.htm

also:

• The Ring of the Dove by Ibn Hazm, translation and preface by A. J. Arberry ISBN 1-898942-02-1

[3]

• "al-Fasl fi al-milal wa-al-ahwa' wa-al-nihal", by Ibn Hazm. Bairut: Dar al-Jil, 1985
• "Abenházam de Córdoba y su Historia crítica de las ideas religiosas" vols. 1-5, by Miguel Asín Palacios. Madrid, 1928-1932
• "Muslim writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible : from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm", by Camilla Adang. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996. ISBN 90-04-10034-2
• "Ibn Hazm et la polémique islamo-chrétienne dans l´histoire de l´Islam", by Abdelilah Ljamai. Leiden: Brill, 2003. ISBN 90-04-12844-1
• "Kitab al-'axlaq wa-s-siyar ou Risala fi mudawat an-nufus wa-tahdib al-'axlaq wa-z-zuhd fi r-rada'il / Ibn Hazm al-'Andalusi ; introd., éd. critique, remarques par Eva Riad." Uppsala : Univ. ; Stockholm : Almqvist & Wiksell international (distr.), 1980. ISBN 91-554-1048-0
• Ibn Hazm - Muslim theologian and man of letters
• Ibn Hazm
• Encyclopaedia Britannica article on Ibn Hazm
• The Zahiris, Their Doctrine and Their History: a contribution to the history of Islamic theology by Ignaz Goldziher, trans. and ed. Wolfgang Behn. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971.

See also

• Hazm (name)

Fatwas:

• Historical Shi'a-Sunni relations

External links

• The original Arabic manuscript of Tawq Alhamama
• Ibn Hazm and female prophethood
• Biography

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