Ibn Hazm

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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 Islamic jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, and theology, as well as the The Ring of the Dove, on the art of love.^[4]

Contents 1 Lineage 2 Career 3 Quotes 4 Works 4.1 Detailed Critical Examination 4.2 Scope of Logic 5 Notes 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Lineage

Ibn Hazm was born into a notable family — his grandfather 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]

[edit] 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.^{[citations needed]}

[edit] 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]

[edit] Works

Main article: List of works by ibn Hazm

• Al-Akhlâq wa’l-Siyar (Morals and Behaviour)^[8]
• Al-fasl fil al-Milal wal-Nihal (On Sects)
• Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions), only existing book of his legal rulings
• Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam, usul al fiqh.
• Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah (The Dove's Necklace or The Ring of the Dove)[4]
• Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual.^[9]

In classical Arabic literary tradition, the dove represented love, or romance, while the ring refers to a necklace. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to adorn one's love. It 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.

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"). ^[10]

[edit] Detailed Critical Examination

In his Fisal (Detailed Critical Examination), a treatise on Islamic science, philosophy and theology, Ibn Hazm stressed the importance of sense perception as he realized that human reason can be flawed. While he recognized the importance of reason, since the Qur'an itself invites reflection, he argued that this reflection refers mainly to revelation and sense data, since the principles of reason are themselves derived entirely from sense experience. He concludes that reason is not a faculty for independent research or discovery, but that that sense perception should be used in its place, an idea that forms the basis of empiricism.^[11]

[edit] Scope of Logic

Ibn Hazm wrote the Scope of Logic on logic in Islamic philosophy, in which he stressed on the importance of sense perception as a source of knowledge.^[12] He wrote that the "first sources of all human knowledge are the soundly used senses and the intuitions of reason, combined with a correct understanding of a language." Ibn Hazm also criticized some of the more traditionalist theologians who were opposed to the use of logic and argued that the first generations of Muslims did not rely on logic. His response was that the early Muslims had witnessed the revelation directly, whereas the Muslims of his time have been exposed to contrasting beliefs, hence the use of logic is necessary in order to preserve the true teachings of Islam.^[13]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• The Ring of the Dove by Ibn Hazm, translation and preface by A. J. Arberry ISBN 1-898942-02-1 [5]
• "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.

[edit] See also

• Hazm (name)
• Miguel Asín Palacios

[edit] External links

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