Birth of Averroes

Averroes was born on 14 April 1126 in Córdoba. An Arab philosopher, physician and judge born in Córdoba in al-Andalus, Averroes, or Ibn Rushd, served the Almohad rulers as a qadi, or judge, and as court physician. He wrote detailed commentaries on the works of Aristotle, so extensive that medieval Europeans simply called him the Commentator. In The Incoherence of the Incoherence he defended philosophy against the criticisms of al-Ghazali, and in the Decisive Treatise he argued that philosophy and revealed religion do not conflict. His writings were translated into Latin and influenced scholastic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, and a movement known as Latin Averroism emerged. Late in life he fell out of favour and was briefly banished. He died in Marrakesh.

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