The Ontic Anxiety of Fate” in Ibn Ḥazm’s Experience of Loss

Abstract

In light of the modern existentialist philosopher Paul Tillich’s discussion of periods of anxiety, this article demonstrates the nature of the anxiety that occupied Ibn Ḥazm during fitna (unrest) in al-Andalus (1009-1031). It argues that the reactions of Ibn Ḥazm to the psychological shock of being separated from his home and community during fitna developed into an extreme anxiety about his fate and future in Cordova. An analysis of Ibn Ḥazm’s “Treatise on Lamenting Cordova” shows the nature of his response to the threat of non-being and the anxiety of fate.