By: Mohammed Sirajuddin, Hon. Fellow, Furqania Academy
Trans. by: Atya Tabassum, Fellow, FAW
Abu al-Waleed Mohammad ibn Ahmad ibn Mohammad ibn Rushd, better known in the Western world by the short name of Averroes, was born in Cordoba in 1126. His grandfather was a jurist, judge and imam of the Aala Mosque of Cordoba. Ibn Rushd’s father was also a judge. Ibn Rushd was educated in such scholarly environment. He studied the Qur’an and learned hadith from Abu al-Qasim, Abu Marwan and Abu Abdullah Marzi, and jurisprudence from Hafiz Abu Muhammad ibn Rizq. He memorized the text of Imam Malik’s book. He learned medicine from a famous scholar Abu Jafar ibn Harun Tarjali and Abu Marwan ibn Hizbul. Ibn Rushd soon became a scholar of the sciences such as literature, law, medicine, astronomy, physics and philosophy, in addition to theology. Some famous Spanish thinkers such as Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Baja and Ibn Tufayl were contemporaries of Ibn Rushd. Ibn Rushd was a highly regarded legal adviser. In 1169, he was promoted to the post of Chief Justice of Sevilla. In 1172, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Cordoba. Ten years later, the Al-Muwahid Caliph Abu Ya’qub (1163-1184) invited him to Morocco and appointed him the royal physician in place of Ibn Tufayl. He remained in this position till 1184. After that, he remained attached to the court of Al-Muwahid Caliph Yaqub Al-Mansur. In the beginning, he remained closed to Yaqub Al-Mansour. But later, because of religious bigotry and jealousy, the scholars accused him of blasphemy and atheism, which led to his deportation to Lesina (Jewish settlement) by the Caliph in the 1194. His entire library, which contained very rare and invaluable books, was burnt to ashes and scientific books were abandoned. But reading books on philosophy was banned. When the religious frenzy subsided in 1198 AD, Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur forgave him and called him back to the court. But Ibn Rushd could not enjoy more. He passed away at the age of 75 years, at the end of the same year, i.e. on the 10th of December 1198. Ibn Rushd was buried near the Taghzat Gate in Morocco. However, his body was later exhumed and reburied in Cordoba. The famous scholar and Darwish Ibn Al-Arabi was still young at that time and he was present at the time of burial.
Ibn Rushd, who is known as Ibn Sina of the Western world, was a great scholar of philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, logic and jurisprudence. Ernest Renan introduced him to the world. Munk says that Ibn Rushd was a great commentator of Plato. Ibn Rushd’s writings are spread over 29 thousand pages. He has written extensively on philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence and other subjects. His total books on these subjects amount to 67. Among them were 28 on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on theology, 4 on law, 4 on astronomy, and 2 on grammar. Ibn Rushd was an astronomer. He authored a book titles Kitabun fi Harakat-il-Falak, which was very popular. He discussed in it the motion of the planet. He is also credited with discovering sunspots.
Roger Arnold and Albert J. Iskandar write in their dissertation that “Al-Kulliyat fi al-Tibb”, or “Al-Kulliyat” in short, is known in Latin as Colliget. This book was written between 1153 and 1179. It consists of seven volumes: (1) Anatomy (2) Health (3) Disease (4) Symptoms (5) Medicine and nutrition (6) Hygiene and (7) Healing. Ibn Rushd said that a person does not get smallpox for the second time.
Ibn Rushd’s Al-Kulliyat cannot be compared with those of Abu Bakr Razi’s Al-Hawi and Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine, because Ibn Rushd’s reputation for medicine has been overshadowed by his philosophical reputation. Bonacosa, a Jew, first translated the book into Latin in 1255 AD, and the first edition appeared in Venice in 1482 AD. After that many editions came in the market. Ibn Rushd has written a “Summary” on Galen’s book. Many parts of which are available in the form of manuscripts in Arabic. Ibn Rushd has written a commentary on one of Ibn Sina’s poetic book which is called “Sharh Arjuza fil-Tibb”. It was translated into Hebrew in prose by Musa ibn Taban in 1260 AD. And its poetic translation has been done by Salmon bin Ayub bin Joseph of Granada in France in 1261 AD. The Latin translation of this book was done by Armin Gard in 1280 or 1284. An edition of this book came to light in Venice in the 1484 AD. Andrew Alpago also translated another book of Ibn Rushd, “Muqabalatun fil Tiryaq,” into Latin. This is how Will Durant praises Ibn Rushd on his scholarly abilities in his writings.
“His encyclopedia of medicine “Kitab al-Kulliyat fit-Tibb” translated into Latin, was widely used as text in Christian universities.”
Ibn Rushd was interested in various sciences. He was very fond of reading. He had never studied in just two nights in his life. One of them was the night his father died and the other night was the one he got married. He has authored books in medicine, philosophy, law, physics, mathematics, astronomy, jurisprudence and theology. Most of his books are available in the form of Latin and Hebrew translations. The books written by him in Arabic have perished.
Ibn Rushd’s rise to prominence in philosophy as Aristotle’s commentator is related to an event. That is when Ibn Rushd gained access to the royal court in Morocco. At that time Ibn Tufail, the royal physician and the philosopher was present in the court. Let us listen to Ibn Rushd’s account himself of this incident:
Ibn Tufayl was present when I came to the service of Amirul Mu’mineen (Yusuf bin Abdul Mu’min). There was no one else. He started praising me which I did not deserve. Amirul Mu’mineen began his talk with this question. What do philosophers think about the sky? Is it old (qadeem) or accidental (hadis)? I was overwhelmed with shame and fear. I started looking for excuses and finally refused philosophical knowledge. Amirul Mu’mineen understood my situation and turned to Ibn Tufayl and began to express the views of Aristotle, Plato and other philosophers on the subject. At the same time, he shed light on the objections of the Muslims. I was amazed to see this power of memory in the caliph. Amir consoled me with his conversation and tested my knowledge. And when I left, they ordered to give me cash, a riding horse and an expensive dress.
In the court of Caliph Abu Ya’qub, Ibn Rushd performed the greatest scholarly feat of writing commentaries on Aristotle’s books, and he did so at the behest of Ibn Tufayl. As Ibn Rushd writes, “Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl called me one day and said that there is a flaw in the text of the present translation of Aristotle. Amirul Mu’mineen says that if a person understands them and summarizes them, and writes them down in a simple language, then people will be able to easily understand the intricacies of philosophy…. You can do this. I know your intelligence and wisdom….
Anyhow, at the behest of Ibn Tufayl, I intended to write a commentary on Aristotle’s books. In this way Ibn Rushd set out to write commentaries on Aristotle’s books. Thus Ibn Rushd’s philosophical writings can be divided into two groups. Commentaries on Aristotle’s books and his own writings, including Fasl al-Maqal, Kitab al-Kashf, and Tahafat al-Tahafat.
Dr. Qadir Lone writes about the book Fasl-ul-Maqal: “It is one of the important books. In this book, Ibn Rushd has said that it is obligatory to contemplate on the sciences of philosophy and logic in the light of Qur’anic verses and hadiths of the Prophet PBUH.”
In the time of Ibn Rushd, it was a common saying of the Muslim jurists (fuqaha) that by studying the books of philosophy, a person goes astray and becomes a kafir. Ibn Rushd refutes this statement by saying that if a person goes astray by reading these books or he becomes a victim of slippage, the reason may be that he has erred while contemplating on these books or he may have been overwhelmed by selfish motives, or he may not have been able to find someone to explain it to him and satisfy him on the subject. But this does not mean that even those who are insightful and aware should be barred from reading these books.
Ibn Rushd’s most important work in philosophy is known as Tahafat al-Tahafat. He wrote this book in refutation of Imam Ghazali’s book “Tahfaat al-Falasafah”. This book has been strongly criticized by the Muslim world. But contrary to Muslim criticism, Christian Europe has praised it. In fact, this book has had a profound effect on the views of Jews and Christians. This book is actually written in response to the books of Imam Ghazali in which the rationality has been attacked. But contrary to the reaction of Muslims, Ibn Rushd’s writings have had a profound effect on Christian Europe, and Ibn Rushd is still considered one of the most famous philosophers in the Western world. In The Legacy of Islam, Alfred Guillaume writes that Ibn Rushd belongs to Europe more than to the East. His influence in Italy lasted until the sixteenth century. Until the beginning of modern experimental science, Averroism was a dominant element in European thought. The Latin language has preserved a number of Ibn Rushd’s works, which the Arabic language has lost.
For a long time in the West, Averroism has attracted the attention of the leading scholars of the time, but in Islam, Averroism never achieved this position. A famous thinker writes that Ibn Rushd is the most famous of the Muslim thinkers. He adopted a new style in writing Aristotle’s commentary. He did not resort to blind imitation in interpreting philosophical ideas, but also reasonably criticized all theories. And that is the clear proof of his free thought. Great scientists and thinkers of the world could not stay away without being inspired by the philosophy of Ibn Rushd.
The writings of the scientist Roger Bacon (1214-1294 AD) often contain references to ideas of Arab scholars and Ibn Rushd. The philosopher Spinoza (1632-1677) was also influenced by Ibn Rushd. Even Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) could not help but be inspired by Ibn Rushd’s philosophy, who is said to have revived the sciences in Europe. The famous philosopher Bertrand Russell says that Ibn Rushd is more important in Christian philosophy than in Muslim philosophy.