Filosofia islamica averroes biography

Ibn Rushd was a Muslim Andalusian polymath whose most notable contributions to philosophy were his commentaries on the Greek philosopher Aristotle, which would go on to inspire future European scholars.

Also referred to as Averroes, the Latinised version of his name, Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd was born in 1126 in the Spanish city of Cordoba, which at the time was part of the Almoravid Empire.

The philosopher and theologian had a formative role in the establishment of European rationalism and his body of work has been praised as being a precursor of the European enlightenment, centuries later.

Besides philosophy, Ibn Rushd also produced scholarly works on topics as diverse as medicine, psychology and astronomy.

While well known in medieval Europe, Ibn Rushd is best known in the Islamic world for his theological work, particularly in the area of fiqh - the theoretical aspect of Islamic law. His philosophical ideas only gained widespread popularity in the Muslim world with the rise of Islamic reformist movements in the 19th century.

Here, Middle East Eye explores the life and work of one of Andalusia's most important intellectuals.

Who was Ibn Rushd?

Ibn Rushd was born in 1126 into a family of well-respected and successful Islamic scholars, with his grandfather Abu al-Walid Muhammad serving as the chief qadi (judge) of Cordoba and the imam of the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

The young scholar was trained in Islamic theology, studying the Quran, hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) and Islamic jurisprudence, according to the Maliki school of thought.

As

• Averroes, On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy, trans. G.F. Hourani (London: 1976).

• Averroes, Tahāfut al-Tahāfut, trans. S. Van Den Burgh (Cambridge: 1954).

• P. Adamson, “Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī and Averroes on Metaphysics Alpha Elatton,” Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 21 (2010), 343-74.

• P. Adamson and M. Di Giovanni, Interpreting Averroes: Critical Essays (Cambridge: 2018).

• J.A. Aertsen and G. Endress (eds), Averroes and the Aristotelian Tradition (Leiden: 1999).

• C. Cerami, Génération et Substance: Aristote et Averroès entre physique et métaphysique (Berlin: 2015).

• M. Di Giovanni, Averroè (Rome: 2017).

• T.-A. Druart, “Averroes on the Harmony of Philosophy and Religion,” in Averroes and the Enlightenment, ed. M. Wahba and M. Abousenna (Amherst NY: 1996), 253-62.

• R.C. Taylor, “Truth Does Not Contradict Truth: Averroes and the Unity of Truth,” Topoi 19 (2000), 3-16.

• R.C. Taylor, “Ibn Rushd/Averroes and ‘Islamic’ Rationalism,” in Medieval Encounters 15 (2009), 225-35

 Digital Averroes Research Environment

IBN RUSHD, Abu 'l-Walid Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Rushd, al-Hafid (the grandson),
the 'Commentator of Aristotle', famous in the Mediaeval West under the name of Averroes, scholar of
the Qur'anic sciences and the natural sciences (physics, medicine, biology, astronomy), theologian and
philosopher.

I. Life.

He was born at Cordova in 520/1126 and died at Marrakush in 595/1198. The Arabic biographical
sources are: Ibn al-Abbar, Takmila, BAH, vi, no. 853; Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, 'Uyun; al-Ansari, supplement to
the dictionaries of Ibn Bashkuwal and of Ibn al-Abbar (notice published in the complete works of
Renan, iii, 329); al-Dhahabi, Annales (ibid., 345); 'Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi, Mu'dhib.

Ibn Rushd belonged to an important Andulusian family. His grandfather (d. 520/1126), a Maliki
jurisconsult, had been qadi and imam of the Great Mosque of Cordova. His father was also a qadi. The
biographers stress the excellent juridical education of the future Commentator; his teacher was al-Hafií
Abu Muhammad ibn Rizq and he became very competent in the science of khilaf (controversies and
contradictions in the legal sciences). He learned by heart the Muwatta'. Ibn al-Abbar mentions that he
studied 'a little' with Ibn Bashkuwal, which implies that he touched on the science of the traditions of
the Prophet; but the same author says that the science of law and of the principles (usul), diraya,
interested him more than the science of traditions, riwaya. He worked also on Ash'ari kalam which he was
later to criticize. In medicine, he was the pupil of Abu Dha'far Harun al-Tadhali (of Trujillo), who was in
addition a teacher of hadith (cf. 'Uyun). Ibn al-Abbar mentions another of his teachers, Abu Marwan ibn
Dhurrayul (notice no. 1714), who (he says) was one of the foremost practitioners of his art. The
biographers do not mention philosophic studies. Ibn Abi Usaybi'a limits himself to reporting, following
al-Badhi, that Averroes studied 'philoso

Arab-Andalusian Muslim writer and philosopher (1126–1198)

"The Commentator" redirects here. For other uses, see Commentator (disambiguation).

Ibn Rushd (Arabic: ابن رشد; full name in Arabic: أبو الوليد محمد بن أحمد بن رشد, romanized: Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd; 14 April 1126 – 11 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes (English:), was an Andalusianpolymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, mathematics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, and linguistics. The author of more than 100 books and treatises, his philosophical works include numerous commentaries on Aristotle, for which he was known in the Western world as The Commentator and Father of Rationalism.

Averroes was a strong proponent of Aristotelianism; he attempted to restore what he considered the original teachings of Aristotle and opposed the Neoplatonist tendencies of earlier Muslim thinkers, such as Al-Farabi and Avicenna. He also defended the pursuit of philosophy against criticism by Ashari theologians such as Al-Ghazali. Averroes argued that philosophy was permissible in Islam and even compulsory among