SOURCE: Coope, Jessica A. “With Heart, Tongue, and Limbs: Ibn Hazm on the Essence of Faith.” Medieval Encounters 6, no. 1-3 (2000): 101-13.

In the following essay, Coope explores Ibn Hazm's explication of the essentials of Muslim faith in his Kitab al-fasl fi al-milal wa al-ahwa' wa al-nihal.

A student in my undergraduate Religious Studies seminar recently told me he wanted to write his term paper on the topic of solidarity within religious communities. As a believing Christian, he said, the fellowship and common beliefs he shared with members of his church gave him strength, peace of mind, and clarity of intention like nothing else in his life. Yet as he worked his way through our readings on the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, he was struck by how the sense of community that gave his life meaning has at times turned into a lethal weapon against outsiders. Confessional solidarity's...