Edited and prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead
These pages are edited by Prof. Hamed Abdel-reheem Ead, Professor of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science -University of Cairo, Giza, Egypt and director of the Science Heritage Center
E-mail: profhamedead@yahoo.com
Web site: http://www.frcu.eun.eg/www/universities/html/hamed2.htm
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Introduction:
The medical school of the western Caliphate was both medically and philosophically antagonistic to Ibn Sina (1037) Avicenna, who is usually regarded as the chief representative of Islamic Medicine. The Arabic physician that emanated from the Cordova center of Islam showed a modification, owing to its intimate contact with the Christian West, and the medical and philosophical literature issued by the Christians and Jews of Moslem Spain is based more on the practical realities and attach less importance to dialectic vanities.Muslim Spain has produced some of the brightest intellectual luminaries of the Middle Ages. One of them was Ibn Rushd known in the West as Averroes, who is universally aknoweldge as the great philosopher of Islam and one of the greatest of all times. George Sarton in his introduction of history of science said that " Averroes was great because of the tremendous stir he made in the minds of men for centuries. A history of Averroism would include up to the end of the sixteenth-century, a period of four centuries which would perhaps deserve as much as any other to called the Middle Ages, for it was the real transition between ancient and modern methods."
The eminent Arabic writers of the western Caliphate are small in number as compared to those of the Eastern, but their influence on the Latin West was far-reaching. The most of the Western Moslem physicians who reached any degree of eminence date long after Razes and Avicenna: the four most eminent of these were Albucasis, Avenzear, Averoes and Maimonides, all of whom exercised a great influence over the Scholastics of the Latin West.
Abul Waleed Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn Muhammed Ibn Rushd
- He was born in Cordova, the metropolis of Moslem Spain in 520 A.H. (1126 C.E.). Both his father and grand father were prominent judges. His family was well known for scholarship and it gave him fitting environment to excel in learning. He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy and (according to Leo Africanus) he was a friend of Avenzoar, the great Moslem clinician. He studied medicine, philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Harun and from Ibn Baja (1138) and he learned 'Fiqh' (Islamic jurisprudence) from Hafiz Abu Muhammed Ibn Rizq.
- Ibn Rushd under Islamic protection centered on the masterworks of Plato and Aristotle as preserved by an evolving series of lengthy and often innovative commentators, ideas that by now had been banned for centuries and virtually forgotten in the adjoining Holy Roman Empire.
- Like his father and his grandfather, he too became a judge, first in Seville and then Cordova, though his main love was philosophy. Supposedly, one night over dinner, he entered into a discussion with Almohad prince Abu Ya'qub Yusuf over the origin of the world and the nature of the mind.
- Averroes' ruminations on Aristotle's account of existence and the nature of the soul so impressed the ruler that he commissioned Averroes to write an entire set of commentaries. A few years later the prince appointed Averroes as his personal physician; under his auspices, Averroes spent the rest of his life writing commentaries on virtually all of Aristotle's works, producing detailed and original reconstructive commentaries on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Physics, Posterior Analytics, De Caelo, and De Anima, as well as Plato's Republic.
- Ibn Rushd was a genius of encyclopedic scope. He spent a great part of his fruitful life as a judge and as a physician. Yet he was known in the West for being the grand commentator on the philosophy of Aristotle, whose influence penetrated the minds of even the most conservative of Christian Ecclesiastes in the Middle Ages, including men like St. Thomas Aquinas. People went to him for consultation in medicine just as they did for consultation in legal matters and jurisprudence.
- At the age of twenty-seven, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions. Upon the ascendancy of Yousuf, he was introduced to him by another great Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufail to help in translating, abridging and commenting on some works of Aristotle (in 1169 C.E.).
- Ibn Rushd was appointed a judge (Qaadi) in Seville at the age of forty-four. That year he translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima" (Animals). This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott. Two years later he was transferred to Cordova, his birthplace where he spent ten years as judge in that town. During those ten years Ibn Rushd wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle including the Metaphysics. He was later called back to Marrakesh to work as a physician for the Caliph there, before his return to Cordova as Chief Judge.
- Ibn Rushd was well versed in the matters of the faith and law, which qualified him for the post of Qaadi (judge), but he was also keenly interested in philosophy and logic. So he tried to reconcile philosophy and religion in many of his works. Besides this area of study, he was deeply interested in medicine as well, as was his predecessor Ibn Sina (Avicenna). According to the French philosopher Renan Paris 1866), Ibn Rushd wrote seventy-eight books on various subjects.
- A careful examination of his works reveals that Averroes was a deeply religious man. As an example, we find in his writing, "Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith in the omnipotence and oneness of God the Almighty."
- In his medical and philosophical works we see the depth of his faith and knowledge of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions, which he often quotes in support of his views in different matters.
- Ibn Rushd said that true happiness for man can surely be achieved through mental and psychological health, and people cannot enjoy psychological health unless they follow ways that lead to happiness in the hereafter, and unless they believe in God and His oneness.
- Ibn Rushd commented that Islam aims at true knowledge, which is knowledge of God and of His creation. This true knowledge also includes knowing the various means that lead to worldly satisfaction and avoidance of misery in the Hereafter. This type of practical knowledge covers two branches: (1) Jurisprudence which deals with the material or tangible aspect of human life and (2) the spiritual sciences which deal with matters like patience, gratitude to God, and morals. He compared spiritual laws to medicine in their effect on human beings physically on one hand, and morally and spiritually on the other. He pointed out that spiritual health is termed 'Taqwa' (righteousness and God-fearing) in the Qur'an.
- Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions in philosophy, logic, medicine, music and jurisprudence. Ibn Rushd's writings spread more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. He wrote 20 books on medicine.
- 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 profound influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science. His views on fate were that man is in neither full control of his destiny nor it is fully predetermined for him.
- He wrote three commentaries on the works of Aristotle, as these were known then through Arabic translations. The shortest Jami may be considered as a summary of the subject. The intermediate was Talkhis and the longest was the Tafsir. These three commentaries would seem to correspond to different stages in the education of pupils; the short one was meant for the beginners, then thintermediate for the students familiar with the subject, and finally the longest one for advanced studies. The longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Qur'anic concepts.
- Ibn Rushd wrote many books on the question of theology, where he tried to use his knowledge of philosophy and logic. It is not surprising then that his works greatly influenced European religious scholarship, though Averroes is innocent of many views of Western so-called Averroism.
- Professor Bammate in his booklet "Muslim Contribution to Civilization" quotes Renan: St. Thomas Aquinas was "the first disciple of the Grand Commentator (i.e., Averroes). Albert Alagnus owes everything to Avicenna, St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroes." Professor Bammate continues: "The Reverend Father Asin Palacios, who has carried out intensive studies of the theological Averroism of St. Thomas and, in no way classifies Averroes with Latin Averroists, takes several texts of the Cordovan philosopher and compares them with the Angelic Doctor of (St. Thomas). The similarity in their thought is confirmed by the use of expressions similar to that of Ibn Rushd. It leaves no room for any doubt about the decisive influence that the Muslim Philosopher (Averroes) had on the greatest of all Catholic theologians.
- The philosophical, religious, and legal works of Ibn Rushd have been studied more thoroughly than his medical books, since he was primarily a theologian-philosopher and scholar of the Koranic sciences.
- Among his teachers in medicine were Ali Abu Ja'lfar ibn Harun al-Tarrajjani (from Tarragona) and Abu Marwan ibn Jurrayul (or Hazbul, according to al-Safadi).
- Ibn Rushd's major work in medicine, al-Kulliyyat ("Generalities"), was written between 1153 and 1169.
- Its subject matter leans heavily on Galen, and occasionally Hippocrates' name is mentioned. It is subdivided into seven books: Tashrih al-a'lda' ("Anatomy of Qrgans"), al-Sihha ("Health"), al-Marad ("Sickness"), al-'Alamat ("Symptoms"), al-Adwiya wa 'l-aghdhiya ("Drugs and Foods"), Hifz al-sihha ("Hygiene"), and Shifa al-amrad ("Therapy")
- Ibn Rushd requested his close friend Ibn Zuhr to write a book on al-Umur al-juz'iyya (particularities, i.e., the treatment of head-to-toe diseases), which he did, and called his book al-Taisir fi 'l-muddawat wa 'l-tadbir ("An Aid to Therapy and Regimen").
- Ibn Rushd's al-Kulliyyat and Ibn Zuhr's al-Taisir were meant to constitute a comprehensive medical textbook (hence certain printed Latin editions present these two books together), possibly to serve instead of Ibn Sina's al-Qanun, which was not well received in Andalusia by Abu '1-,Ala' Zuhr ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn Zuhr (Ibn Zuhr's grandfather).
- Two Hebrew vesions of al-Kulliyyat are known, one by an unidentified translator, another by Solomon ben Abraham ben David.
- The Latin translation, Colliget, was made in Padua in 125 5 by a Jew, Bonacosa, and the first edition was printed in Venice in 1482, followed by many other editions.
- Ibn Rushd wrote a talkhis (abstract) of Galen's works, parts of which are preserved in Arabic manuscripts.
- He showed interest in Ibn Sina's Urjuza fi 'I-tibb ("Poem on Medicine," Canticum de medicina . . . ), on which he wrote a commentary, Sharh Urjuzat Ibn Sina.
- It was translated into Hebrew prose by Moses ben Tibbon in 1260; a translation into Hebrew verse was completed at Beziers (France) in 1261 by Solomon ben Ayyub ben Joseph of Granada.
- Further, a Latin translation of the same work was made by Armengaud, son of Blaise, in 1280 or 1284, and a printed edition was published at Venice in 1484.
- Another revised Latin translation was made by Andrea Alpago, who translated Ibn Rushd's Maqala fi '1-Tiryaq ("Treatise on Theriac," Tractatus de theiaca).
- Ibn Rushd's unsuccessful attempts to defend philosophers against theologians paved the way for a decline in Arabic medicine.
- The great image of the Hakim (physician-philosopher), which culminated in the persons of al-Razi and Ibn Sina, has been superseded by that of faqih musharik fi ''l- ulum (a jurist who participates in sciences), among whom were physician-jurists and theologian-physicians.
- Because Ibn Rushd'frame as a physician was eclipsed by his frame as a philosopher, his book Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb stands no comparison to 'Continents' of Rhazes and 'Canon' of Avicenna.
- Averroes wrote a commentary on Avicenna's poem Canticum de Medicina (translated into Latin by Armengaud). and also mentioned the Philosophia Orientalis of the latter.
- His commentary of the Canticum was published at Vinice in 1484 under the title Incipit translatio Canticor. Avi. cum commento Averrhoys facta ab Arabico in Latinum a mag. Armegando blassi de Montepesulaano.
- The German physician Max Meyerhof remarked that: "In Spain, the philosophical bias predominated among medical men. The prototypes of this combination are the two Muslims, Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).
- He wrote a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitab fi-Harakat al-Falak.
- According to Draper, Ibn Rushd is credited with the discovery of sunspots. He also summarized Almagest and divided it into two parts: description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres. This summary of the Almagest was translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in 1231.
- His book on jurisprudence 'Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid' has been held by Ibn Jafar Zahabi as possibly the best book on the Maliki School of Fiqh.
- Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into various languages, including Latin, English, German and Hebrew.
- Most of his commentaries on philosophy are preserved in the Hebrew translations, or in Latin translations from the Hebrew, and a few in the original Arabic.
- His commentary on zoology is entirely lost. Ibn Rushd also wrote commentaries on Plato's Republic, Galen's treatise on fevers, al-Farabi's logic, and many others. Eighty-seven of his books are still extant.
- Ibn Rushd has been held as one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the twelfth century.
- According to the Western writers, Ibn Rushd influenced Western thought from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
- His commentaries were used as standard texts in preference to the treatises of Aristotle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
- His books were included in the syllabi of Paris and other Western universities till the advent of modern experimental sciences. Ibn Rusd was studied in the University of Mexico until 1831.
- The intellectual movement initiated by Ibn Rushd continued to be a living factor in European thought until the beginning of modern expermintal science.