Quote by Ibn Hazm: “Love is neither disapproved of by religion nor prohibited by law; for every heart is in God's hands.”

Ibn Hazm argues that love is not a moral failing or a legal transgression — it is simply something that happens, and God is responsible for that. This is a defense of love against religious and legal systems that tried to regulate emotional life. The heart answers to no court.

The Ring of the Dove was composed in Andalusia in 1022, during the period of the Taifa kingdoms when political fragmentation followed the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate. Córdoba had been one of Europe's most sophisticated cities, and its literary culture produced works of unusual psychological subtlety, including Ibn Hazm's detailed account of romantic experience.

Andalusian scholar, philosopher, and poet born in 994 CE in Córdoba, who made major contributions to logic, jurisprudence, and literary theory. His Ring of the Dove is one of the most celebrated medieval treatises on the psychology of love.