IBN RUSHD (AH 520–595/1126–1198 CE), better known in Western sources as Averroës, was the last outstanding Arab philosopher and commentator of Aristotle. Ibn Rushd was born in Córdoba, the capital of Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) in 1126, into a family of prominent (Mālikī) religious scholars. His full name in Arabic is given as Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd, and he is reported to have studied jurisprudence (fiqh), Arabic letters (adab), theology (kalām), philosophy, and medicine with a number of eminent teachers, some of whose names are given in the biographical sources. None of his philosophy teachers are mentioned by name, but he is reported to have had the highest regard for Ibn Bājjah (Avempace, d. 1139), who was responsible for introducing Aristotle into al-Andalus and was the first Arab philosopher in that part of the Islamic world. In addition, Ibn...