diff --git a/mlx/c/array.cpp b/mlx/c/array.cpp
index 7c7342d..8267a41 100644
--- a/mlx/c/array.cpp
+++ b/mlx/c/array.cpp
@@ -330,7 +330,12 @@ extern "C" const size_t* mlx_array_strides(const mlx_array arr) {
 }
 extern "C" int mlx_array_dim(const mlx_array arr, int dim) {
   try {
-    return mlx_array_get_(arr).shape(dim);
+    auto& a = mlx_array_get_(arr);
+    int ndim = a.ndim();
+    if (ndim == 0) return 1;  // scalar: treat as size 1 for any dim
+    if (dim < 0) dim += ndim;
+    if (dim < 0 || dim >= ndim) return 0;  // out of bounds: return 0 instead of crashing
+    return a.shape(dim);
   } catch (std::exception& e) {
     mlx_error(e.what());
     return 0;