The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Ibn Hazm (994–1064)

The life of the man of letters and religious scholar Abu Muhammad ‘Ali b. Hazm coincided with one of the most traumatic periods in the history of Andalus (Islamic Iberia). The Western branch of the Umayyad dynasty had lost its splendor with the death of Caliph Hakam II al-Mustansir in 976, in which time his young son Hisham II al-Mu’ayyad fell under the influence of his chamberlain Muhammad b. Abi ‘Amir al-Mansur, who claimed to rule in his name. Ibn Hazm’s father had served Mansur as vizier, and Ibn Hazm himself briefly acted as vizier to at least two of the Umayyad caliphs that followed each other in rapid succession and with much bloodshed after the demise of Mansur’s second son in 1009. The ensuing civil war between different Muslim factions profoundly affected Ibn Hazm, as is clear from autobiographical passages in his best-known work, Tawq al-Hamama (The Ring of the Dove). After twice suffering imprisonment for his political activities, Ibn Hazm turned to scholarship, producing an immense oeuvre spanning numerous disciplines.

His political views are expressed in several works, most notably al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa-l-Ahwa’ wa-l-Nihal (The decision concerning religions, heresies, and sects), al-Muhalla bi-l-Athar (The book adorned with traditions), and al-Radd ‘ala Ibn al-Naghrila al-Yahudi (The refutation of Ibn al-Naghrila the Jew), which reflect his literalist (ẓāhirī) reading of the Qur’an and the hadith and his opposition to the state-sponsored Maliki school of law. They can be summarized as follows: the Muslim community is in need of a supreme leader (imam or caliph) to whom obedience is owed; there can only be one imam at any given time; he must be an adult male from the tribe of Quraysh, though not necessarily closely related to the Prophet Muhammad; and he must be in possession of his full mental faculties on his accession. Physical defects do not constitute an impediment, nor need he be the most virtuous person available. The imam should be pious, promote the application of God’s law, and see to it that justice is done. The imam is to show himself regularly to the public. He should refrain from openly committing major sins, and he should hide any minor ones.

An imam may legitimately come to power in one of the following ways: (1) the ruling imam himself appoints his successor, not necessarily his own son or relative; (2) if the imam dies without having appointed a successor, someone may stake a claim, which was how ‘Ali b. Abi Talib obtained the leadership of the Muslim community; or (3) the incumbent imam appoints a person or a number of persons to elect the new leader, as was done by the second caliph, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab. The first option is preferable to Ibn Hazm. His predilection for the Umayyad house, to which he claimed to be linked by clientage, is reflected in his statement that Mu‘awiya b. Abi Sufyan was not guilty of bid‘a (un-Islamic innovations) when he designated his son Yazid as his successor, for it was similar to the way that the Prophet Muhammad chose Abu Bakr, who in turn designated ‘Umar as his successor. Although the Andalusian Umayyads were ruling an increasingly shrinking part of the Muslim world, they were the sole legitimate heirs of the first Umayyad caliphate for Ibn Hazm, not the Persianate Abbasids and certainly not the Shi‘i Fatimids (whom he dismissively calls “Banu ‘Ubayd”) or the Hammudids, an ‘Alid dynasty that briefly supplanted the Umayyads in Andalus.

The imam will delegate several of his original functions, but he must be personally involved in the selection of his representatives, making sure they are pious as well as capable. He will surround himself with advisors, such as judges and military commanders, who are experts in their respective fields and with whom he meets regularly. Governors in remote provinces, especially rich and strategically important ones, are to be appointed for brief periods only so that they cannot create a power base; by moving them about, other areas, too, get to benefit from their skills. Soldiers are to be paid well, so as to minimize the danger of rebellions. By the time Ibn Hazm wrote these lines, it was already too late for Andalus.

In the absence of an imam—which was practically the case in the Iberian Peninsula under the so-called party-kings, who ruled the petty states created after the final collapse of the caliphate in 1031—the believers should follow the person who takes the initiative to promote God’s law and fight the unbelievers. In Ibn Hazm’s view, none of the new, self-styled kings qualified. With characteristic bluntness he scolds them for flouting the laws of the shari‘a, relying on non-Muslim functionaries and soldiers, raising illegitimate taxes, and otherwise oppressing the believers, all of which constitute acceptable grounds for deposing the ruler, whether he is the imam or someone of minor stature. It is no surprise, then, that Ibn Hazm became persona non grata at several local courts and that the king of Seville ordered the public burning of his books.