Following in the footsteps of Ibn Rushd (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Today in Beirut, my students and I discussed the “Decisive Treatise” of Ibn Rushd (Averroes), a revered 12th century Muslim philosopher who lived in Cordoba and Morocco. While contemplating his argument that Islam and ancient philosophy are compatible, we analyzed relevant verses in the Qur’an (59:2 & 7:184-5) in سورة الحشر and سورة الأعراف. It was exciting and inspiring to see my students debating the philosophical ideas of Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, and al-Ghazali with such insight and passion–what more could a teacher ask for?
From this it is evident that the study of the books of the ancients is obligatory by Law, since their aim and purpose in their books is just the purpose to which the Law has urged us, and that whoever forbids the study of them to anyone who is fit to study them, i.e. anyone who unites two qualities, (1) natural intelligence and (2) religious integrity and moral virtue, is blocking people from the door by which the Law summons them to knowledge of God, the door of theoretical study which leads to the truest knowledge of Him; and such an act is the extreme of ignorance and estrangement from God the Exalted…
— Ibn Rushd (d. 1198)
