The concept of sunnah in Ibn Hazm

The Concept of Sunnah in Ibn HazmIbn Hazm is one of the most famous personalities in Zahiri school. His methodology is quite different from other Islamic schools?. One of the fields which this difference can be seen apparently is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammed.Ibn Hazm accepts sunnah as a kind of revelation (wahy) and claims that the sunnah is protected like Qur?an which is preserved from all of the deficiencies. Moreover, he asserts that the narrators of the hadith can not make even an error while conveying the message of the Prophet. He also accepts the mutawatir hadith and âhad hadith at the same level in terms of their authenticity and states that both of them express knowledge. Ibn Hazm, categorised the sunnah of the Prophet by three main categories: the verbal (qawli), the action (fiali), the tacitly approved (taqriri) Sunnah of the Prophet and supports that just the verbal (qawli) sunnah expresses obligation.Ibn Hazm describes the narration of a hadith by conveying its meaning, with an absolute sense, distorting the revelation; however he maintains that who knows the meaning of the sunnah can narrate it without its precise words. Also, for the authenticity of âhadith he does not accept comparing the hadiths with related verses of the Qur?an also amali ahl al-madinah.As a result of his perception of sunnah he accepts that the sunnah is a result of revelation like Qur?an and he claims that there will be no controversy between them. On the basis of this apprehension he states that both Quran and hadith should be accepted as a source of Muslim life.On the basis of his perception of sunnah which is summarised above the acceptance of sunnah as a revelation and application of zahiri methodology has a major affect. However, having compared his ideas with other scholars it is understood that the sunnah is not a result of revelation completely. Nevertheless, the concept of sunnah in Ibn Hazm which is examined in this research, touchs important points in terms of the relation between sunnah and revelation.Key words: Ibn Hazm, sunnah, revelation, Mutewatir, Khabar Wahid