Abū Marwān Ibn Ḥayyān said: Ibn Ḥazm—may Allah have mercy on him—was versed in many disciplines: ḥadīth, jurisprudence, dialectics, genealogy, and all that borders on literature, while also dabbling in the ancient sciences of logic and philosophy. He authored numerous works, yet not one of them is entirely free of error, for his boldness drove him to scale the walls of every field, especially logic. There, they claim, he stumbled and lost his way, contradicting Aristotle, the very founder of the discipline, in the manner of one who had neither understood his intent nor trained himself for it.

At first he inclined toward speculative reasoning in the school of al-Shāfiʿī, and he championed that doctrine so vigorously that the label stuck to him. This made him a target for many jurists, who accused him of eccentricity. He then turned (1) to the creed of the Literalists, refined it, argued for it, and held fast to it until he died. He carried this knowledge about with him and debated anyone who opposed him, with a spontaneous frankness and a readiness (2) to divulge his innermost thoughts, relying on the covenant Allah has taken from the scholars: “You must make it clear to the people and not conceal it” (3).

Thus he would not temper his bluntness by hint or by gradual disclosure (4); rather, he would strike his opponent with it as one strikes a stone block (5) and make him inhale it like pulverized mustard seed (6). Hearts therefore recoiled from him, and scars (7) were laid upon him, until the jurists of his time made him their mark: they conspired against him, unanimously declared him astray, vilified him, warned their rulers of the mischief he might cause, and forbade the common folk to draw near him, so the kings