Ibn Rushd and the Question of War and Peace

Detailed summary

This year marks the 900th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher and jurist Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd of Cordoba (1126–1198). Over the past century, European and Arab scholars…

This year marks the 900th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher and jurist Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd of Cordoba (1126–1198). Over the past century, European and Arab scholars have shown the greatest interest in him and in publishing his works, second only to Ibn Khaldun. Writing about Ibn Khaldun is far easier, as he left behind the "Muqaddimah" and the "Tarikh" (History); researchers studying his theory of history or sociology suffice themselves with the Muqaddimah, with some claiming he failed to apply his theory in his Tarikh, even though most of them have never actually read it.

As for Ibn Rushd, the bulk of his writings consists of commentaries, ranging from concise summaries to extensive treatises, on Aristotle's voluminous works. He also authored a book on jurisprudential disagreement, another debating Al-Ghazali, and two treatises engaging theologians on the methodologies of interpreting religious texts. I forgot to mention that he also wrote a book on medicine.

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest, particularly among French researchers, in republishing Ibn Rushd's commentaries on Aristotle and translating them into French, as well as writing about his originality even within those commentaries and conducting renewed assessments of his influence on medieval European philosophy and its transition into the European Renaissance.

Why this lengthy discussion about Ibn Rushd? Not merely because of his 900th anniversary, but also for his contributions to critiquing stagnation in "kalam" (speculative theology), philosophy, and Sufism, as well as his call for a demonstrative religious science and, finally, for his views, albeit sometimes attributed to Plato and Aristotle, on issues of war and peace.

In the chapter on "Jihad and Conduct of War" in Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jurist's Primer"), we find him citing the views of the Maliki school approvingly, while adding that jihad is the purview of the state and that volunteering…

Opening of the article, excerpted from Asharq Al-Awsat. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.