ABSTRACT
Through his attachment to Greek thought and his scientific practice – especially in medical matters – Ibn Rushd (Averroes for the West) places himself in the line of the falāsifah (Islamic philosophers). But he distinguishes himself from them through his participation in public life, not as an adviser of princes but as a lawyer in contact with daily realities. His family background led him to this position. His namesake Abu’l-Walīd Muḥammad al-jadd (“the grandfather”) had been the leading qāḍī (judge) of Cordoba and had played an important role in the opposition of his city to Almoravid power to which it later submitted. He left some notable legal judgments on the permissibility of the leading dynasty’s customs, on the Mozarabs, and so on, indicating his interest in public matters. His theoretical works demonstrate that he was an eminent specialist in legal methodology (uṣūl al-fiqh) and in the study of the various solutions offered by the great legal schools (ikhtilāf). This connects him with a reform of Malikite law which advocated the integration of analogical reasoning. Although he did not leave comparable work, his son Abu’l-Qāsim Aḥmad was also connected to public life since he occupied the same position in 532/1137 and lost it only when Spain was occupied by the Almohads in 541/1145–6.
