Literature islam last assignments

Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

Early Years

Ibn Rushd, known to Europe as Averroes, was born in 1126 in Cordoba in Al-Andalus (modern day Southern Spain).

This area of the Islamic world was a center of learning, mystical development, and intellectual endeavors. It was one of the great centers of the Islamic Golden Age.

Early Years (continued)

Ibn Rushed come from a family of scholars. He was a polymath who mastered a variety of subjects from an early age.

He eventually became the highest Islamic judge in Cordoba.

He eventually traveled to Marrakesh were he had a famous encounter with the Almohad caliph.

Al-Andalus During Ibn Rushd’s Lifetime

Al-Andalus was ruled by the Almoravids (1040-1147) and later by the Almohads (1150-1248).

Both dynasties were very strict in their implementation of Sharia. But they were still very open-minded in their approach to Islam.

Defending the Islamic Philosophical Tradition

Ibn Rushd famously wrote a defense of the Islamic philosophical tradition called The Incoherence of the Incoherence, which was a direct response to Al-Ghazali’s The Incoherence of the Philosophers.

Ibn Rushd and Philosophy

Ibn Rushd wanted to revive the philosophical tradition of Aristotle.

He believed that Aristotle had been misinterpreted by Islamic philosophers like Ibn Sina and Al-Farabi, both of whom were objects of criticism in Al-Ghazali’s famous work The Incoherence of the Philosophers.

He wrote so many commentaries on Aristotle's works that he became known as “The Commentator” in the Christian tradition of Thomas Aquinas’s time.

Ibn Rushd and Philosophy (continued)

He Asks Al-Ghazali not to judge the Falsafa tradition based on Ibn Sina’s mistakes.

He says that Falsafa is an obligation for muslims to truly understand their own religion to its complete extent.

Ibn Rushd and Philosophy

He saw two types of arguments: (1) demonstrative and (2) rhetorical.

He claimed that the philosopher should only work in demonstrative arguments because they offer a line of rationality to justify a particular statement.

He is critical of Al-Ghazali who worked primarily in rhetorical statements.

He claimed that philosophical truth is the same truth as it is found in the Koran.

If scripture doesn’t add up to rational analysis, it must be interpreted allegorically, not literally.

Three Types of Scripture

1) Those that should be understood literally.

2) Those that should be understood allegorically.

3) Those that are understood as a disagreement.

Ibn Rushd on Women

“Our society allows no scope for the development of women’s talents. They seem to be destined exclusively yo childbirth and the care of children, and the state of servitude has destroyed their capacity for larger matters. It is thus that we see no women endowed with moral virtues; they live their lives like vegetables, devoting themselves to their husbands. From this stems the misery that pervades our cities, for women outnumber men by more than double and cannot procure the necessities of life by their own labors.”

Ibn Rushd on Women (continued)

He argues for the equality of women in the public sphere and even argues that women should become philosophers so they can advocate for themselves.