Ibn Hazm’s Views on Islamic Ethics with Special Reference to Kitab al-Akhlaq wa-al-Siyar

Abstract

Ibn Hazm is one of the most profound thinkers the Muslim ummah ever produced. Despite his pre-eminence, he has been comparatively neglected in the mainstream scholarship. Ibn Hazm is a multi-talented scholar whose influence transcends knowledge boundaries. In fact, he is a renowned traditionist, historian of religion, theologian, philosopher, great theoretician of the Zahiri School and so forth. Further, he is claimed to have written four hundred volumes on various disciplines. This article provides a historical analysis of the life and times of Ibn Hazm. It discusses the biography, religio-intellectual milieus of al-Andalus during Ibn Hazm’s lifetime, the salient aspects of Ibn Hazm’s ideas and his views on ethics. Ibn Hazm’s views on ethics reject the use of analogical reasoning as a source of religious truth and denial of inspiration (Ilham) as a legitimate means of the ethical knowledge. Ibn Hazm strongly believes in the autonomy of God as the sole source of value judgment, against the rationalist approach of the Mu’tazilah. This study primarily adopts the methods of textual analysis. As ideas do not develop in isolation from the larger contexts, the textual analysis method is aided by the method of historical research.