In the pursuit of certainty: Ibn Hazm's jurisprudential thought

One of Ibn Ḥazm's fundamental claims regarding Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) is that the necessity of grounding this discipline -both in terms of its sources and its process of producing knowledge- on a foundation of certainty. In line with this understanding, it is essential that the naṣṣ, which convey the divine message and constitute the basis of legal rulings, be certain in terms of their authenticity. This is because the religious domain is closed to human intervention and must, by its very nature, rely entirely on divine revelation. Furthermore, Ibn Ḥazm believes that the naṣṣ must provide definitive knowledge not only in terms of authenticity but also in terms of their meaning. In that case, it will be necessary to use certain methods to reach jurisprudential judgements from texts whose authenticity is certain. To achieve this certainty, Ibn Ḥazm extensively utilizes Aristotelian logic and places great importance on the linguistic structure that constitutes the external form of the naṣṣ. This thesis aims to demonstrate that Ibn Hazm's goal of attaining certain knowledge is the most important element shaping his general system of thought and his understanding of Zāhirī fiqh, and that it occupies a central position. In the first part of the study, the theoretical foundations of Ibn Ḥazm's understanding of certainty are discussed. In this framework, the founding principles of certainty are analysed by examining the basic concepts and approaches he developed in different disciplines such as his understanding of logic, theory of knowledge, classification of existence and theory of language. In the second part, Ibn Ḥazm's understanding of the methodology of jurisprudence is analysed in terms of how the certainty of evidences is grounded in terms of validity and certainty. In the third part, the consistency and success of Ibn Ḥazm's search for certainty is evaluated by analysing the processes of deducing judgements from the sharīʿa evidence.