SOURCE: Arberry, A. J. “Preface and Preliminary Excursus.” In The Ring of the Dove, by Ibn Hazm, translated by A. J. Arberry, pp. 7-14, 19-32. London: Luzac & Company, 1953.

In the following excerpt, Arberry summarizes the historical and literary contexts of Ibn Hazm’s The Ring of the Dove and presents his translation of the author's preliminary excursus to the work, which details its structure and approach to the subject of love.

Preliminary Excursus

[by Ibn Hazm]

I have divided this treatise into thirty chapters. Of these, ten are concerned with the root-principles of Love, the first being the immediately following chapter on the Signs of Love. After this comes a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love while Asleep; then a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love through a Description; next a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love at First Sight; a chapter...