10 Radiant Scholars of Ahl al-Hadith; Ahl al-Bid’ah Wished Were Never Born! – [4] – Imam Ibn Hazm (456H)

10 Radiant Scholars of Ahl al-Hadith; Ahl al-Bid’ah Wished Were Never Born!

[4]

Imam Ibn Hazm

384H-456H

(994c-1064c)

Compiled, Translated and Annotated

Abu Khuzaimah Ansari 

 

His Name, Genealogy & Ancestry

His kunyah is Abū Muḥammad and his full name and lineage is ʿAlī bin Aḥmad bin Saʿīd bin Ḥazm bin Ghālib bin Ṣāliḥ bin Khalaf bin Maʿdān bin Sufyān bin Yazīd, the freed slave of Yazīd bin Abū Sufyān bin Ḥarb bin Umayyah, al-Fārisī in origin al-Amawī al-Yazīdī al-Qurṭubī al-Ẓāhirī.[1]

His forefather, Yazīd was a freed slave of Yazīd bin Abū Sufyān and thus he had Persian ancestry.[2] His forefather, Khalaf was the first from the family who entered al-Andalus[3] while his grandfather, Saʿīd bin Ḥazm moved to Qurṭuba from Labla.[4] His father, Aḥmad bin Saʿīd was considered to be learned and an honest man, with expertise in language and served as a minister for the grand vizier al-Manṣūr Muḥammad bin Abī ʿĀmir and his son, al-Muẓaffar.[5]

Ibn Ḥazm takes his name from his great grandfather Ḥazm. It is well known that Ibn Ḥazm was born in Qurṭuba ie Cordoba, however, some authors have given him the attribution of Lablī due to his ancestral home of Labla.[6] Labla is the Arabic name given to the town of Niebla which is in the Spanish province of Huelva of Andalus. Ibn Ḥazm was born on the 30^th of Ramaḍān 384/994 which he had wrote himself and gave to his student, Ṣāʿid bin Aḥmad, Abuʾl Qāsim.[7]

His Childhood and a Brief Sketch of his Early Life

Imām Ibn Ḥazm spent almost all his life exclusively in al-Andalus while spending a few months in al-Qayrawān in North Africa. He had intentions to venture east to Baghdad and other centres of learning, however this dream was never achieved. He was bought up in an affluent family since his father, who was also learned – served as a Wazīr to the Umayyad representative in al-Andalus until their fall from power. Initially his father’s ministerial position bought wealth and stability in the life of young Ibn Ḥazm but later it caused trouble and suffering with various trials.

Later, Ibn Ḥazm was also to serve the Umayyads as a minister a few times, which were short engagements, when they gained and lost power. With the troubles and trials associated with his tenure, Ibn Ḥazm dedicated himself and focused on learning the sacred Islamic sciences, writing, and teaching. He was famed for his deep and extensive knowledge all over Andalus, as such the Ẓāhirī Madhhab spread all over al-Andalus. His critique and superior debating skills made him more famous during his life and his verbal altercations with the state backed Mālikī Madhhab, which was dominant at the time also faced a challenge from him and at times his wrath.

He was skilled interlocutor and while having mastered various sciences – including non-religious sciences, he was a formidable and prolific writer and debater. His mastery over argumentation and disputation on a whole array of genres made him a feared adversary.

By 399H/1009 the viceroy, al-Manṣūr and al-Muẓaffar was displaced from power and Ibn Ḥazm’s father, Aḥmad was discharged from his position which led him to leave his palatine residence located in the outskirts of the austere city of Madīnah al-Zahīra when Ibn Ḥazm was approximately 15 years old.[8] His family left their quarter, which were specifically for the civil servants and moved back to his childhood residence in Balaṭ Mughīth. Balaṭ Mughith was situated in eastern side of Qurṭuba.

These were troubling times for Ibn Ḥazm and his family, having lived a life of peace and tranquility which was followed by a period of trials and persecution. There had been successive changes in rulers with a period of civil unrest and turmoil, which led to Ibn Ḥazm and his family facing tribulations, oppression, imprisonment, exile and burden able official fines. Ibn Ḥazm’s father Aḥmad bin Saʿīd was imprisoned with his all of his possession confiscated.

In addition to these trouble and adverse times, the years proved further sorrowful for Ibn Ḥazm, his older brother Abū Bakr died in 401H due to plague[9] and in the following year his father, Ahmad bin Saʿīd also died in 402H, when Ibn Ḥazm was just a teenager of 18.[10] Ibn Ḥazm was yet again faced with another extremely difficult year in 403H when his first wife died – who he loved dearly, which Ibn Ḥazm alludes to himself.[11]

In 403H, the Berbers ransacked Qurṭuba, burnt it, destroyed, and slaughtered its inhabitants for two consecutive months. Ibn Ḥazm’s family home in Balaṭ Mughīth was destroyed[12] which eventually led Ibn Ḥazm to leave his birthplace for Almeria in the beginning of 404H, while an orphan.[13]

He learnt and taught the Islamic sciences while in Almeria, living there discreetly in peace. He also travelled to Malaga for a short period of time and had a debate with a jewish scholar which led him to write a book. The ruler of Almeria at the time began questioning the political motives of Ibn Ḥazm and accused him of plotting a political insurgency. Ibn Ḥazm was imprisoned for this for a few months and then he was eventually exiled in 407H.[14] Thereafter, he sought refuge in the castle of Ḥiṣn al-Qaṣr, where he remained for a short while. He was respected and looked after by the King of the Castle, Ibn Mughaffal.

Ibn Ḥazm then travelled to Valencia and remained there for approximately two years[15], at the same time Murtaḍā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad announced his succession to rule while he was also in Valencia. azm then travelled to Vallencia thenIbn Ḥazm was in favour and harboured sympathy for the Umayyad’s and thus joined an expedition to regain Qurṭuba, however they were defeated in Granada and Ibn Ḥazm was imprisoned by the Berbers.[16]

After being released by the Berbers, Ibn Ḥazm entered Qurṭuba once again around 409H during the reign of Qāsim bin Ḥamūd al-Mamūn, and thereafter wrote is famous book, The Ring of the Dove while in Qurṭuba. [17]After this troubled period when the young ruler ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mustaẓhir rose to power he appointed Ibn Ḥazm as a minister around 414H[18], this was a short appointment perhaps lasting a month or so after which Ibn Ḥazm was imprisoned again by the new ruler while al-Mustaẓhir was murdered.

After his brief ministerial stints around the age of 30 Ibn Ḥazm was increasing disillusioned with the return and sustained rule of the Ummayyds nonetheless he continued to be optimistic. After a few years he was reinstated as a minister under the grand vizier at the time.[19] During such roles Ibn Ḥazm passionately dedicated himself to intellectual writing and learning, his pursuit of knowledge as well clarifying matters of the Dīn. He eventually concluded that he was created for other things and left ministerial and advisory roles and focused on the Sunnah and Athār.[20]

In 429H, Ibn Ḥazm was imprisoned again by the Berbers.[21] After his release he travelled through different areas, having religious disputation with different antagonists and frequent periods of imprisonment. If Ibn Ḥazm was not in prison, he was in hiding from the authorities. Thereafter in 430H he reached Majorca when he was around 45 years old. Ibn Ḥazm again during these years devoted most of his time to writing and composing his works but it was not before long that he was in trouble with the authorities again.

While in Majorca, Ibn Ḥazm was forced to issue legal edicts based on the Mālikī Madhhab and not the Ẓāhirī, in return for sanctuary in Majorca by its secretary Abuʾl Abbās ibn Rashiq. Majorca’s inhabitants and prior to this the, inhabitants of Almeria complained to their respective Qāḍī’s and rulers and Ibn Ḥazm was yet again faced with more trials and persecution. In Majorca Ibn Ḥazm also had debates with the foremost Ashʿarite of his era, Abuʾl Walīd al-Bājī on many theological issues, who was asked to help by the antagonists in desperation after they were unable to halt the intellectual juggernaut, Ibn Ḥazm.[22]

In around 440H, Ibn Ḥazm had to leave Majorca when he was approximately 55 years old, he travelled to Denia, Almeria, Seville – which is known as Ishbīl in Arabic and then finally to his ancestral home.

Ibn Ḥazm had to face another great trial and test during his lifetime, which was probably after 445H and before his death, the king of Seville, al-Muʿtaqid ordered the public burning of his books.[23] After Seville and the public burning and destruction of his book, Ibn Ḥazm was eventually coerced and exiled from the trials he faced to return to his native ancestral home in Montija, in Huelva on the orders of al-Muʿtaqid. He remained there until his death where he continued to write and teach. Al-Muʿtaqid also prevented people from studying with him and banned Ibn Ḥazm from teaching – he threatened anyone who approached him for studies.[24]

During this last period Ibn Ḥazm focused on his writing and teaching, while some students did manage to study with him. These students were young as most of the older ones were well aware of the wrath and expected punishment of the ruler. Some of his family members perhaps also studied with him.

His Pursuit and Quest for Knowledge

One of the most well-known and oft repeated accounts in how Ibn Ḥazm began seeking knowledge is what his student Abū Muḥammad ibn al-ʿArabī mentions. This account is disputed, and some biographers have failed to accept it, while offering plausible explanations and reasons. One of the main arguments against this is that Ibn Ḥazm was already studying with the local teachers in the grand mosque. The incident however is that one day when a friend of Ibn Ḥazm’s father died he went to pray his funeral prayer at midday. When he entered the masjid he sat down, so one of his teachers signaled to him to pray the Taḥḥayatul masjid, which Ibn Ḥazm was unfamiliar with and the people said to him how can you not know about this prayer at your age, Ibn Ḥazm was approximately 25-26 at the time of the alleged incident. There is another incident, that he was about to pray the Taḥḥayatul masjid after the Asr prayer, when he was told to sit down.[25]

In conclusion this left Ibn Ḥazm embarrassed and humiliated and so he asked his teacher to direct him to the house of the most learned jurist of the city – Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Daḥḥun. He began reading the Muwaṭṭāʾ of Imām Mālik to him as well as other books for approximately three years.[26]

Many explanations have been put forward which challenge this account. We know that Ibn Ḥazm began seeking knowledge and taking ḥadīth studies at the tender age of 16, around late 399H early 400H[27] with his teacher, Abū ʿUmar Aḥmad bin Muḥammad al-Jasūr[28] and was thus well acquainted with the understanding of ḥadīth.

His Teachers

Some of the teachers he heard ḥadīth and studied Islamic sciences include the likes of Abū ʿUmar Aḥmad bin al-Jasūr, as mentioned above, Yaḥya bin Masʿūd known as Wajh al-Jannah, Qāḍī Yunus bin ʿAbd Allāh, Qāḍī Abū Bakr Ḥumām bin Aḥmad, Abū Muḥammad bin Yūnus, Qāḍī Yūsuf bin ʿAbd Allāh, Abū Saʿīd al-Fattā al-Jaʿfarī, Muḥammad bin Saʿīd, Muḥammad bin Saʿīd bin Nubāt, Abuʾl Qāsim ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Abī Yazīd al-Miṣrī, ʿAbd Allāh bin Rabʿi al-Tamimī, ʿAbd Allāh bin Muḥammad bin Uthmān, Abū ʿUmar al-Ṭalmanakī, ʿAbd al- Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh bin Khālid, ʿAbd Allāh bin Yūsuf bin Nāmī, Ibn al-Kharrāz, Ibn al-Kattānī, Abuʿl Walīd bin al-Farḍī and Abū ʿUmar bin ʿAbd al-Barr al-Nimari,. He also studied with Abū ʿAbd Allāh bin Daḥḥūn and ʿAlī bin Saʿīd al-ʿAbdarī al-Mayurqī (Majorca) and focused on fiqh with them.[29]

Abuʾl Khiyār Masʿūd bin Sulaymān bin Muflit was from his famous and well-known teachers – Ibn Ḥazm learnt the various views of fiqh from him and he is also credited for instilling the inclination of the Ẓāhirī Madhhab in him.[30] He studied ḥadīth, fiqh and other sciences from numerous other scholars and they’re too many to mention.

Ibn Ḥazm first studied the Mālikī Madhhab in general from the clergy of Qurṭuba and then specifically with Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dahḥḥun for three years and thereafter he began to debate with the people.[31]  He then moved to the Shāfiʿī Madhhab and then eventually to the Ẓāhirī Madhhab.[32] In around 418-420H he began teaching the Ẓāhirī Madhhab with his teacher, Abuʾl Khiyār or Ibn Khiyār in the grand mosque of Qurṭuba. The Mālikīs were infuriated and lodged a complaint with the ruler, who ordered a royal decree for both of them to be banned from teaching.

It is no secret that Ibn Ḥazm al-Ẓāhirī championed the Ẓāhirī Madhhab, he codified it, taught it, and spread it. Such was the case that it reached unprecedented levels all over al-Andalus and the Maghrib that when Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī returned from his studies in the east he said, “When I returned, I found that the whole of the Maghrib had been filled with the Ẓāhirī Madhhab.”[33] Ibn Ḥazm’s view was very simple, that only divine texts had legislative authority and constituted evidence, and that all matters must be referred back to these two sources generally, and specifically when differences arose. He rejected views based qiyās and stuck to the general views and core evidences.[34] He spent the remainder of his life, spreading and defending the Ẓāhirī Madhhab all over al-Andalus.[35]

This credit goes to the prodigious traditionalist and ḥadīth master, the Muḥaddith, Imām Baqī bin Makhlad (201-276H), who had over two hundred and eighty teachers, who travelled the east and west over two decades in the question of knowledge and ḥadīth and thus amassed a vast and extensive collection of ḥadīth which he took back to Qurṭuba, the city of his birth. For well over a quarter of a century the illustrious Imām Baqī bin Makhlad served the cause of ḥadīth, producing numerous students and established a school of ḥadīth in Qurṭuba. He died in Qurṭuba in 276H and left behind a cultured, cultivated and established school of ḥadīth in Spain which was reduced to a Dār al-Ḥadīth.[36] It is such a spring that Ibn Ḥazm grew up in and essentially drank from it.

His Students

His students and those who narrated from him include, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥumaydī who benefited a lot from him, he was also an acclaimed historian and wrote, Jadhwah al-muqtabis fī dhikr wulāt al-andalus. Another student, Ṣāʿid bin Aḥmad al-Andalusi was also an established historian and geographer and authored the well-known Ṭabaqāt al-umam. His son, Abū Rāfʿe al-Faḍal and a whole group of people benefitted from him. The last person to narrate – who also had ijāzah from him was Abuʾl Ḥasan Shurayḥ bin Muḥammad. Also, the likes of Abū Muḥammad ibn al-ʿArabī – the father of the well-known Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi, studied all of his works with him except the last volume of his Kitāb al-Fiṣal for seven years.[37]

His Works

Ibn Ḥazm had numerous works, we have it on numerous authorities that he compiled, collated and wrote around 400 volumes, compromising 80,000 pages as his son Abū Rāfʿe al-Faḍal transmitted,[38] the most prolific author in the history of Islām, on par or close to Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī.[39] These books varied in their type, most of them were written works while others were explanations.

We also know that there was a public burning of his books by the state. This was not a few isolated detractors or antagonists or even a group, but rather a state backed public burning. This highlights three important aspects, the first that public burning of books was not a few books but it was all of his books, the second; books of the author were forever lost due to this and third anyone who even had any of Ibn Ḥazm’s books and disagreed with the burning would never volunteer information they possessed his books and hence were hidden and concealed in fear of reprisal

Inevitably such events caused fear and disillusioned the people from reading or even looking at the works of Ibn Ḥazm. If this fact is coupled with the official banning of Ibn Ḥazm teaching, this had a further adverse effect on the works of Ibn Ḥazm. It is well known know that teachers would teach and have reading sessions of their books, which they would teach and explain. So when Ibn Ḥazm was banned, his books burnt there was very little hope of ever having his works available to us or even after the immediate centuries after his death. We know about the books of Ibn Ḥazm from the ones he mentioned himself or his companions or students mentioned.

From records we find the names of around 180[40] or so, with some researchers mentioning 160 or so works authored by Ibn Ḥazm and only 40 of them approximately have ever been published. This in of itself is incredible, that the virtue and stature of Ibn Ḥazm are professed through limited works. Some scholars like al-Dhahabī mention only 74 works.[41]

Listing all of the works of Ibn Ḥazm would be too lengthy, as a summarised version we shall mention some of them.

1. Qirāʾāt al-mashhūrah fiʾl amṣār
2. 2. Kitāb al-durrah fīmā yajibu iʿtiqāduhu also known as Risālah fiʾl Iʿtiqād
3. Kitāb al-farāʾid
4. Kitāb fī asmāʾ Allāh
5. Risālah bayān ʿan ḥaqīqah al-imān
6. ʿAdad mā li kul ṣāḥib fī musnad baqī
7. Al-Iḥkām fī uṣūl al-aḥkām
8. Al-Mujallā fiʾl fiqh
9. Al-Muḥallā fī sharḥ al-mujallā biʾl ḥujaj waʾl āthār
10. Kitāb muhim al-sunan
11. Kitāb al-khiṣāl al-jāmiʿa li maḥṣal sharāʾiʿ al-islām fiʾl wājib waʾl ḥalāl waʾl ḥarām
12. al-Īṣāl ilā fahm kitāb al-khiṣāl al-jamiʿah li-maḥṣal sharāʾiʿ al-islām fiʾl-wājib waʾl-ḥalāl waʾl-ḥarām
13. Kitāb al-imlāʾ fī sharḥ al-muwaṭṭaʾ
14. Sharḥ aḥadīth al-muwaṭṭaʾ waʾl kalām ʿalā masāʾilihi
15. Al-Mujallā fiʾl fiqh
16. Al-Muḥallā fī sharḥ al-mujallā biʾl ḥujaj waʾl āthār
17. Kitāb muhim al-sunan
18. Al-Mujallā fiʾl fiqh
19. Kitāb muhim al-sunan
20. Ajwiba ʿala ṣaḥīḥ al-bukhārī
21. Juzʾ fī awhām al-ṣaḥīḥayn
22. Mukhtasar fī ʿilal al-ḥadīth
23. Kitāb al-āthār allātī ẓahiruhā al-taʿaruḍ wa nafī al-tanāquḍ ʿanhā
24. Qaṣīdah fī uṣūl al-fiqh al-ẓāhiriyyah
25. Ibṭāl al-qiyās waʾl-raʾy waʾl istiḥsān waʾl-taqlīd waʾl-taʿtīl
26. al-Nukat al-mūjazah fī nafī al-raʾy waʾl-qiyās waʾl-taʿtīl waʾl-taqlīd
27. Al-Uṣūl waʾl furūʿ
28. Kitāb al-iʿrāb ʿan al-ḥayra waʾl iltibās al-mawjūdayn fi madhāhib ahl al-raʾy waʾl qiyās
29. Al-ijmāʾ wa masāʿiluhu
30. Al-Risālah al-bāhirah fiʾl radd ʿalā ahl al-aqwāl al-fāsida
31. Al-Iẓhār li mā shuniʿa bihi ʿalā al-ẓahiriyyah
32. Kitāb durr al-qawāʾid fī fiqh al-ẓahiriyyah
33. Kashf al-iltibās limā bayna al-ẓāhiriyyah wa aṣḥāb al-qiyās
34. Maratib al-ijmāʾ fiʾl ʿibādāt waʾl muʿāmalāt waʾl iʿtiqadāt
35. Ahkām al-Dīn
36. Aṣḥāb al-futyā min al-ṣaḥābah wa man baʿdahum
37. Risalah fiʾl mufāḍalah bayna al-ṣaḥābah
38. Marātib al-ʿulamāʾ wa tawālifuhum
39. Risāah marātib al-ʿulūm
40. Risālah maʿrifah al-nāsikh waʾl mansūkh
41. Masāʾil uṣūl al-fiqh
42. Al-imlāʾ fī qawāʾid al-fiqh
43. Kitāb al-ikhtilāf al-fuqāhaʾ al-khamsah: mālik wa abī ḥanīfah waʾl-shāfiʿī wa aḥmad wa dāwūd also known as Kitāb infarada bihi mālik aw abū ḥanīfah aw al-shāfiʿī
44. Kitāb fī mā khālafah fīhi al-mālikiyyah al-ṭawāʾif min al-ṣaḥābah
45. Kitāb fī ma khālafah fihi abū ḥanīfah wa mālik waʾl-shāfiʿī jumhūr al-ulāmāʾ wa mā infarada bihi kul wāḥid wa lam yusbuq ilā mā qālahu.
46. Al-taqrib li ḥadd al-manṭiq waʾl madkhal ilayhi bil alfāẓ al-ʿāmna waʾl amthila al-fiqhiyyah
47. Taʿlif fiʾl radd ʿalā anājīl al-naṣārah
48. Risālah fiʾl radd ʿalā ibn naghrīla al-yahūdī
49. Iẓhār tabdīl al-yahūd waʾl naṣārah fiʾl tawrāt waʾl injīl wa bayān tanāquḍ mā bi aydīhim min dhālika mimmā lā yaḥtamilul taʿwīl.
50. Risālah al-radd ʿalāl kindi al-faylasūf
51. Jawāmiʿ al-sīrah
52. Kitāb ḥujjah al-wadāʾ
53. Kitāb al-akhlāq waʾl siyar fī mudāwāt al-nufus
54. Asmāʾ al-khulafā waʾl wulāt wa dhikr mudadihim
55. Asmāʾ al-ṣaḥābah al-ruwāt wa mā li kull wāḥid min al-ʿadad
56. Kitāb al-fiṣal fiʾl milal waʾl ahwāʾ wa niḥal
57. Risālah fiʾ Imāmah
58. Risālah ṭawq al-ḥamāmah fiʾl ulfa waʾl ullāf
59. Jamharat ansāb al-ʿarab

ʿIzz al-Dīn bin ʿAbd al-Salām said, “I have not seen the likes of any books on Islamic sciences likes Ibn Ḥazm’s al-Muḥallā nor the likes Shaykh Muwaffaq al-Din’s al-Mughnī.” Al-Dhahabī comments: “Shaykh ʿIzz al-Dīn is right, and the third is al-Bayhaqī’s al-Sunan al-Kubrā, and the fourth Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr’s al-Tamhīd. Whoever obtains these volumes, if he is one of the intelligent muftis and perseveres in reading them – he is truly a ʿālim.”[42]

The Praise of the Ulamāʾ

Al-Ḥumaydī said, “I have not seen anyone of the likes of him; who had combined in him intelligence with an agile memory, generousness, and the most devout in the Dīn.”[43]

Al-Ḥumaydī further praises his teacher Ibn Ḥazm and says in the introduction of his book Jadhwah while elevating the status of his teacher, “These historical records and its respective science – I acquired most of them from my teacher, Ḥāfiẓ Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī bin Aḥmad bin Ḥazm.”[44] Al-Ḥumaydī praises Ibn Ḥazm in numerous places in the aforementioned work.[45]

The Qāḍī, Abuʾl Qāsim Ṣāʿid bin Aḥmad commented on the stature and status of Ibn Ḥazm on history and genealogy and said, “In the whole of al-Andalus, he was the most perceptive, comprehensive expert and accomplished scholar with regards to Islamic sciences and had the final word and extensive knowledge on language, rhetoric, poetry biography, the Sunnah reports and genealogy.”[46]

Al-Dhahabī lauds him with the following titles, “al-Imām al-ʿAllāmah al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Faqih al-Mujtahid…”[47] and “The Imam, one ad only, the ocean of knowledge, the possessor of sciences and knowledge..”[48]

Ibn Khāqān defended him against some of the allegations of Ibn Ḥayyān and said about Ibn Ḥazm, “He was a unique faqih who was not a muqallid, he did not fall into innovations or new ideas… he devoted himself to the different sciences of knowledge and their respective studies, he was honest in his expressions and observations.”[49]

Al-Dhahabī said about him, “He was extremely intelligent with a prolific memory such that his knowledge of the sciences was very extensive.”[50]

Ibn Khalikān said, “He was humble yet possessed all the virtues and had numerous works.”[51]

Ibn Taymiyyah said, “He had faith, religious commitment and a great deal of knowledge, that no one can deny except one who is stubborn, and the content of his books highlights his deep knowledge of various views and different circumstances, as well as his respect for the fundamentals of Islam and for the Messenger, which is a combination that cannot be found with anyone else.”[52]

Ibn Ḥajr quotes al-Ḥumaydī who said, “He was a Ḥāfiẓ of ḥadīth and the Sunan with their understanding, deducing rulings from the Qurʾān and Sunnah, he was dedicated to the great sciences, and was devout upon his knowledge.”[53]

Al-Dhahabī said, “He was an expert of the various sciences; a multidisciplinary in the Dīn, he was truthful, pious and devout.”[54]

He was even praised and honoured by his adversaries like Abū Marwān bin Ḥayyān.[55]

His Family

Most authors mention that Ibn Ḥazm had only one son, the scholar, Abū Rāfʿe al-Faḍal. However some biographers mention that he also had other sons and one daughter, Abū ʿUsāmah Yaʿqūb, Saʿīd, Abū Sulaymān Muṣʿab.[56] However such findings are under scrutiny and are to be researched further.

The great polymath and phenomenon, Imām Ibn Ḥazm died on his estate in Montija, Manta Lisham, in his native ancestral home located in the west of Andalus, on the 28^th of Shaʿbān  in 456/1064 at the age of 71,[57] he left behind a lasting legacy for the Muslim Ummah.

[1] Ṣāʿid bin Aḥmad, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, 1:101; Muḥammad bin al-Fattūh al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah al-muqtabis fī dhikr wulāt al-andalus, 1:308; Khalaf ibn ʿAbd al-Mālik Ibn Bashkuwāl, Kitāb al-ṣilah, 2:415; Aḥmad bin Yaḥyā al-Ḍabbī, Bughyah al-multamis fī tārīkh rijāl ahl al-andalus, 1:415; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidāyah waʾl nihāyah, 2:91; Aḥmad bin Muḥammad Ibn Khalikān, Wafayāt al-ʿayān wa abnāʾ al-zamān, 3:325; Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Muʿajam al-adabāʾ, 12:235; Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:239 no.5787; Ibn ʿAmād, Shadhrāt al-dhahab, 3:299; Kurd ʿAlī, Kunzar al-ajdād, 1:245; ʿAlī ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī, al-Dhakhirah fī maḥāsin ahl al-jazīrah, 1:132.

[2] Al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah, 2:489 no.708.

[3] Ibn Khalikān, Wafayāt, 3:325, ʿAbd al-Karīm Khalīfah, Ibn Ḥazm al-andalusī ḥayatuhu wa adbahu, 17.

[4] Ṣāʿid, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, 1:181-182.

[5] Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 1:395; Ibn Khalikān, Wafayāt 3:13; al-Ḍabbī, Bughyah al-multamis, 1:403.

[6] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:239

[7] Ṣāʿid, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, 1:102; al-Maqqarī, Nafḥ al-ṭayyib, 2:283; Yāqūt, Muʿajam al-adabāʾ 12:240; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417; al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah al-muqtabis, 1:39; al-Ḍabbī, Bughyah al-multamis, 1:416,

[8] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 146-147.

[9] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 153-154.

[10] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 147; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417.

[11] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 124.

[12] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 146.

[13] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 147.

[14] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 147.

[15] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 147.

[16] Ibn al-Khaṭīb, Iḥata, 4:115.

[17] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 158.

[18] Ibn al-Ābār, al-Hilmah al-sīrāʾ, 2:12-13

[19] Yāqūt, Muʿajam al-adabāʾ, 12:237.

[20] Yāqūt, Muʿajam al-adabāʾ, 12:237.

[21] Ibn Bassam, al-Dhakhīrah, 1:136.

[22] Ibn Ḥazm, al-Fiṣal, 1:88.

[23] Ibn Bassām, al-Dhakhīrah, 1:169.

[24] Ibn Bassām, al-Dhakhīrah, 1:168-170.

[25] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:241; Yāqūt, Irshād, 1652.

[26] Yāqūt, Irshād, 1652.

[27] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240.

[28] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 158; al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah, 1:107, 308; al-Ḍabbī, Bughyah al-multamis, 1:415.

[29] Ibn Ḥazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah, 100, 102, 115; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:415; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227; Siyar, 18:185+; al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah, 1:268; Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240; al-Maqqarī, Nafḥ al-tayyib, 2:283; Yaqūt, Muʿajam al-adabāʾ, 12:242.

[30] Al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah, 1:243, 359; al-Ḍabbī, Bughyah al-multamis, 1:467.

[31] Yāqūt, Irshād, 1652.

[32] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240.

[33] Ibn al-ʿArabī, al-Awāṣim min al-qawāṣim, 2:136, 336.

[34] Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227.

[35] Al-Maqqarī, Nafḥ al-ṭayyib, 2:285.

[36] Ibn al-Faraḍī, Tarīkh ʿulamāʾ al-andalus, 1:91-93; al-Maqqari, Nafḥ tayyib 4:162; Ibn ʿAmād, Shadhrāt al-dhahab, 2:169; Zirkilī, al-ʿAlām, 1:33.

[37] Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ; Siyar, 18:185-186; 3:227, 230; Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240; Yāqūt, Irshād, 4:1653.

[38] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:228; Yāqūt, Irshād, 4:1651; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417.

[39] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:241.

[40] Introduction to al-Muḥallā,1:55-66.

[41] Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, 18:193-197, cf. his Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227.

[42] Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, 18:193

[43] Al-Ḥumaydi, Jadhwah, 2:491; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:228; Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240.

[44] Al-Ḥumaydi, al-Jadhwah, 1:36

[45] For instance, refer to, Jadhwah, 1:178, he further asserts Ibn Ḥazm had immense knowledge of history and its sciences, al-Humaydi, Jadhwah, 1:293.

[46] Ṣāʿid, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, 1:102; Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-Ḥuffāẓ, 3:228; Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240. Later scholars also held this view of Ibn Ḥazm, cf. Ibn Ḥayyān, al-Muqtabis, 1:90; Ibn Bassām, al-Dhakhīrah, 1:140.

[47] Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227.

[48] Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, 18:184

[49] Ibn Khāqān, Maṭmah, 279-282.

[50] Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227.

[51] Ibn Khalikān, Wafayāt, 3:325

[52] Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿa al-fatāwa, 4:20.

[53] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:240.

[54] Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-ḥuffāẓ, 3:227.

[55] Ibn Ḥajr, Lisān al-mizān, 4:239; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah ul-Ḥuffāẓ, 3:230.

[56] Ibn al-Abbār, Takmillah, 1:49; Ibn ʿAbd al-Mālik, Dhayl; 1:121-12, al-Ṣafadī, Wāfī, 6:391.

[57] Ibn Bashkuwāl, al-Ṣilah, 2:417.