IBN HAZM

born Nov. 7, 994, Crdoba, Caliphate of Crdoba died Aug. 15, 1064, Manta Lisham, near Seville in full Abu Muhammad 'ali Ibn Ahmad Ibn Sa'id Ibn Hazm Muslim litterateur, historian, jurist, and theologian of Islamic Spain, famed for his literary productivity, breadth of learning, and mastery of the Arabic language. One of the leading exponents of the Zahiri (literalist) school of jurisprudence, he produced some 400 works, covering jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, and theology, and The Ring of the Dove, on the art of love. Additional reading Ibn Hazm, Tawq al-hamamah, trans. by A.J. Arberry, The Ring of the Dove (1953), contains many references to Ibn Hazm's experiences. E. Garca Gmez's translation in Spanish, El collar de la paloma (1952), contains a good introduction to Ibn Hazm's life and also an extensive biobibliography. The article by R. Arnaldez in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed. (1968), is one of the few up-to-date comprehensive surveys of Ibn Hazm's life, works, and thought. Ignaz Goldziher, Die Zahiriten, ihr Lehrsystem und ihre Geschichte (1884; The Zahiris: Their Doctrine and Their History, trans. and ed. by Wolfgang Behn, 1971), is a basic work on the Zahiri school of law and Ibn Hazm's application of the system to theology. See the biography of Ibn Hazm in Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-A'yan wa-Anba' al-Zamam, Eng. trans. by Baron MacGuckin de Slane, 4 vol. (184271, reprinted 1961), a translation of a famous biographical dictionary of the 13th century.