in full Abū Muḥammad ʽAli ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʽīd ibn Ḥazm
born Nov. 7, 994, Córdoba, Caliphate of Córdoba
died Aug. 15, 1064, Manta Lisham, near Sevilla
Islamic scholar and theologian.
Born in Spain, he lived through the civil war that ended the Spanish Umayyad caliphate and was afterward imprisoned for having supported it. As a leader of the Ẓāhirī school of jurisprudence, he taught that legal theory must rely on a literal interpretation of the Qurān and tradition. His beliefs were often attacked, and his books were burned in public. His scholarship included not only jurisprudence and theology but also logic, literature, and history. Famed for his mastery of Arabic, he wrote about 400 books, fewer than 40 of which survive.