Ibn Hazm: Likeness

“If you attended (a study session) strictly adopt three attitudes; there is no fourth. First: You can lock yourself in the silence of ignorance. Second: If you do not behave as such, ask for the questions a man seeking to learn asks…. This man will ask only about what he does not know, not about what he knows. Asking about matters one knows is making proof of ineptitude; this is only ranting, waste of time for everyone…. If the person you are questioning does not give satisfactory answers, stop questioning… Third: You can answer like a scientist, refuting clearly the other’s arguments. If you are not capable of that, do not insist….””

Ibn Hazm

ibid, 114-5

Study , Time , Question , Personality

“You came to me just before
the Christians rang their bells.
The half-moon was rising
looking like an old man's eyebrow
or a delicate instep.
And although it was still night
when you came a rainbow
gleamed on the horizon,
showing as many colours
as a peacock's tail.”

Ibn Hazm

Gómez, translated by Cola Franzen from the Spanish versions of Emilio García (1989) https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=IEHb0lmTvS8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Poemas+ar%C3%A1bigoandaluces&redir_esc=y&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Poetry

Night

“Ask questions stubbornly, very proud men who seeing themselves right without knowing anything about the matter. This shows lack of piety, a tendency to ranting, a weak mind, and excessive vanity. [...] If you hear, or read writing (you object to), do not react with violence until you have proof that what is expressed is wrong. Do not accept that with the enthusiasm of the credulous man either until being wholly convinced of that. In both situations you blind yourself and drift away from truth… Act like a person who has no preconceived views, one ready to know and accept what is right and reject what is wrong.”

Ibn Hazm

ibid, 116

Reading , Question , Personality , Truth

“If you attend a study session, only behave like a man wishing to expand his knowledge and seeking a higher reward from God. Do not act like a man content with what he holds, who is waiting for a weakness (from someone) to criticize (it or him), or an oddity to raise. This will be acting like vile people who have never mastered science.’ ‘If you attend with good intentions you will obtain the best results. Otherwise just stay at home, awarding yourself rest, a good morality, and a salutary outcome in front of God.”

Ibn Hazm

ibid, 114

Home , God , Study , Waiting

“Whosoever has a natural leaning towards a science, even if it was less noble than another, should not abandon it for the other because if he did he would be like someone who would be growing coconuts in al-Andalus and olive trees in India, crops that would never fructify.”

Ibn Hazm

ibid, 21

Science , Tree , Nature

“Whoever harms his kinship and his neighbors is worse than them. Whosoever returns ill that he receives from them is like them. Whosoever does not return ill done to him is the master, the best and most virtuous amongst all.”

Ibn Hazm

ibid, 18

“Sciences are like powerful drugs, which suit the strong and exhaust the weak. Likewise, complex sciences enrich a vigorous mind, and keep it off evil, but exhaust the mediocre mind.”

Ibn Hazm

ibid

Strong , Science , Evil