Averroes: Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd

 

Abu Al- Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Rushd, popularly known as Averroes, Aven Ruiz, or Averrhoes in the West, was born in 1126,in  Cordova (formerly the capital of Moorish Spain), and died on December 10, 1198 A.D. in Marrakech, Morocco (capital of the Almohad or al-Muwahhidun dynasty). Ibn Rushd was a true polymath, with knowledge, expertise, and genuine contributions to philosophy, Islamic law (jurisprudence), medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics, and geography, as were many Arab and Muslim physicians and intellectuals.  Not surprisingly, he became known as the “Prince of Science” because of his contributions to different sciences and disciplkines of learning.

Early Life and Education

Ibn Rushd came from a family of academics with a long legacy of legal and public service. He excelled in Quranic studies and theology. Ibn Rushd is called Al-Hafid because his grandfather was the great judge of Cordoba. Ibn Rushd (the grandfather) wrote the kitab al-Mugad Dimat al Mumahhidat, a notable work in Maliki jurisprudence. Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, Ibn Rushd's father, was also a Qadi.

Ibn Rushd received a regular education, commencing with Hadith, linguistics, law, and scholastic theology. He wrote about philosophy, religion, God's attributes, the universe's origin, metaphysics, and psychology. Ibn Rushd was a brilliant thinker and scholar who was known as "the jurisprudent philosopher" for his mastery of both philosophy and law.

Ibn Rushd the Philosopher and Theologian

His thought is genuinely creative and highly controversial, producing powerful arguments that were to puzzle his philosophical successors in the Jewish and Christian worlds. He argues that there are two forms of truth, a religious form and a philosophical form, and that it does not matter if they point in different directions. He is also doubtful about the possibility of personal immortality or of Gods being able to know that particular events have taken place. His work also suggests that religion is inferior to philosophy as a means of attaining knowledge, and that the understanding of religion which ordinary believers can have is very different and impoverished when compared with that available to the philosopher.

In philosophy, his most important work Tuhafut al-Tuhafut was written in response to Al-Ghazali’s work. Ibn Rushd was criticized by many Muslim scholars for this book, which, nevertheless, had a deep influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science. His views on fate were that man is neither in full control of his destiny nor is it fully predetermined for him. Al Rushd’s longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Quranic concepts. Ibn Rushd’s summary, the opinions (fatwa) of previous Islamic jurists on a variety of issues, has continued to influence Islamic scholars to the present day, notably Javed Ahmad Ghamidi.

Ibn Rushd the Physician

The philosophical, religious and legal works of Ibn Rusd have been studied more thoroughly than his medical books. Among his mentors in medicine were Ali Abu Ja’far Ibn harun al-Tarrajani and Abu marwan Ibn Jurrayul. His important contribution to medicine was “Al- Kulliyat fi Al-Tibb” (Colliget or “Generalities on Medicine”), which was written between 1153 and 1169. The Colliget was translated to Hebrew and Latin 90 years later and taught in Europe until the 18th century.

Astronomy

At the age of 25, Ibn Rushd conducted astronomical observations in Morocco, during which he discovered a previously unobserved star. He was also of the view that the Moon was opaque and obscure, and had some parts which were thicker than others, with the thicker parts receiving more light from the Sun than the thinner parts of the Moon. He also gave one of the first descriptions of sunspots.

Major Works

The books of Ibn Rushd were translated into Latin from the 12th century onward and were published with the works of Aristotle, who produced many works on subjects such as physics, astronomy, philosophy, zoology, logic, politics and biology. "Al Kulliyat Fi al- Tibb" ("General Principles of Medicine"), "Fasl al-Maqal" ("The Decisive Treatise"), "Tehafut ut- Tehafut" ("The Incoherence of the Incoherence"), "Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtaṣid" ("Primer of the Discretionary Scholar, in 3 volumes"), the "Long Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics," the "Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle" and the "Commentary on Plato's Republic" are among his most essential and widely read works.

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