SOURCE: Ali, Abdul. “Ibn Hazm as Moralist and Interpreter of Love.” Hamdard Islamicus 18, no. 3 (fall 1995): 77-84.

In the following essay, Ali assesses Ibn Hazm's writings on the psychology of love and enumerates his contributions to the Muslim understanding of morality and virtue.

Abū Muḥammad Ibn Hazm (994-1064 a.d.) was the greatest and most original genius of Muslim Spain. He was a distinguished jurist and historian of his time as well as a great authority on juridico-theological studies. His analysis of religious and civilizational factors governing human life and social organization is said to have inspired Ibn Khaldūn, who, in the fourteenth century of the Christian era, became the real founder of the sciences of sociology and historiography. Ibn Bashkuwāl (1101-1183 a.d.), author of a well-known dictionary of Spanish celebrities al-Sila fī akhbāri a'immatī 'l Andalus, has paid him a glowing tribute in...