Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (1126-1198 CE / 520-595H), known in Europe as Averroes, was an Andalusian philosopher, jurist, physician, and polymath. He served as court physician and chief judge (qadi) in Seville and Cordoba. His extensive commentaries on Aristotle — preserved largely through Latin translations — were foundational for medieval European Scholastic philosophy, earning him the title 'The Commentator' in the Latin world. In Islamic jurisprudence, his Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid is a landmark comparative fiqh text presenting the legal opinions of all four madhabs with their evidential bases. Late in life he was briefly exiled by the Almohad Caliph due to philosophical controversies.