أبو محمد ابن حزم الأندلسي

The hafiz Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, imam of the Zahiri school. Author of The Ring of the Dove and al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal (The Decisive Account on Religions, Sects and Schools). ¹

Ibn Ghalib says that the Banu Hazm are a house other than the one from which Ibn Hazm the Zahiri came, and that they were of Persian origin. ²

He was born in Córdoba on the last day of Ramadan in 384 AH, and died in the village of Mant Lusham in Sha'ban 456 AH. ³

Ibn Hayyan and others said that he was a man of hadith, jurisprudence and disputation, and that he wrote books on logic and philosophy. He was first a Shafi'i and then became a Zahiri, and he remained so until he died. Ibn Hayyan says that the jurists reviled him, and that the kings drove him away. ³

Sa'id says in his history that he gathered together the learning of Islam more fully than any other man in al-Andalus. His son al-Fadl relates that about four hundred volumes in his father's hand were gathered at his home. Al-Ghazali said that he found a book by him on the names of God, which shows the greatness of his memory. ³

Haji Khalifa attributes to him al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam (The Firm Principles of the Rulings). ⁴