Selections: The Dove's Collar in Familiarity and Intimacy

The jurist and writer Ibn Hazm was not unaware of what was going on in his society, and he was aware of the spread of negative social phenomena in this society, so he decided to confront them with several writings, and committed himself to being an educator, and he wrote several letters in this field, including his most famous book, "The Dove''s Ring in Intimacy and Thousands." He knew that this society, with all its faults and shortcomings, would not accept a book by a jurist about love. Ibn Hazm expressed this in more than one place in the book, perhaps the clearest of which was his saying: "And I know that some fanatics will denounce me for writing something like this. Thus, for a thousand years, the conservative jurist has not been ashamed to discuss such a thorny topic in a single book, over the length of thirty chapters, detailing without embarrassment love, starting with its essence and signs, and elaborating on its chapters and detailing all the chapters of love, including abandonment and attachment, consolation and loyalty. He also cites real stories, including stories of his own. The book combines love and biography, by approaching the emotional side of the jurist''s life and the emotional lives of a number of his contemporaries.