Averroes  ·  Ibn Rushd

Averroes and Ibn Rushd

Averroes is the Latinised name Europe gave to Ibn Rushd, written ابْن رُشْد. One man, two reputations, and most English writing only knows the Latin half.

English
Averroes
Arabic
ابْن رُشْد
Read as
Ibn Rushd
Status
Jurist and philosopher, died 1198
Where the English comes from
Latinisation of Ibn Rushd, by way of the Spanish Aven Roshd.
What the Arabic carries
Ibn Rushd, son of Rushd; rushd means right guidance and sound judgement.
Full name page
Ibn Rushd on AsrNaam

Is Averroes the same as Ibn Rushd? Yes. Averroes is the Latinised form and Ibn Rushd the Arabic form of one name. Medieval Europe called him simply the Commentator, in the way it called Aristotle simply the Philosopher.

Who Ibn Rushd was

Averroes is the Latin for Ibn Rushd, the Andalusian jurist, physician and philosopher who died in Marrakesh in 1198. Medieval Europe knew him simply as the Commentator, in the way it knew Aristotle simply as the Philosopher, and Dante placed him in Limbo among the virtuous pagans rather than lower.

He was also a working qadi, a judge, in Seville and Cordoba, and his Bidayat al-Mujtahid is still read as a comparative work of Islamic law. The combination is the point: the man Europe remembers for Aristotle spent his days deciding cases.

Rushd, the root of the family name, means sound judgement and right direction, and Rashid and Rushdi come from the same root. Averroes itself is not given as a name.

Using the name

The full entry for Ibn Rushd carries the Arabic spelling, the Urdu, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading, along with every romanisation the name is written in.

Open the full Ibn Rushd page →

Questions about Averroes and Ibn Rushd

Is Averroes the same name as Ibn Rushd?
Averroes is the Latinised form and Ibn Rushd is the Arabic form of the same name. They refer to the same man.
Is Averroes the same as Ibn Rushd?
Yes. Averroes is the Latinised form of Ibn Rushd, used in medieval and modern European scholarship.
What does Rushd mean?
Right guidance, maturity of judgement. Rashid and Rushdi come from the same root.
Can a Muslim family use the name Ibn Rushd?
Ibn Rushd is a family name rather than a given name, so it is not usually given to a child. Its page on AsrNaam sets out the man and the meaning of the name.

Other names the two traditions share

Every one of these is one figure under two names.

Jesus and IsaMoses and MusaMary and MaryamAbraham and IbrahimJoseph and YusufDavid and DawudSolomon and SulaymanNoah and NuhJohn and YahyaJacob and YaqubJonah and YunusJob and AyyubAaron and HarunIsaac and Ishaq

Or start from the full list of Biblical names in Islam.