Islamic physicians in history
Ibn Rushd - – judge, philosopher, physician

Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes in Europe, was born in Cordova in Muslim Spain in 1126 (520 AH) and became one of the greatest Muslim philosophers, particularly when his influence over Western philosophy is taken into account.

Both his father and grand father were prominent judges and his family was well known for scholarship which provided him a fitting environment to excel in learning.

He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics and philosophy. He studied medicine, philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Harun and from Ibn Baja (1138) and he learned 'Fiqh' (Islamic jurisprudence) from Hafiz Abu Muhammed Ibn Rizq. Like his father and his grandfather, he too became a judge, first in Seville and then Cordova, though his main passion was philosophy.

He spent most of his productive life as a judge and physician. However, at the age of twenty-seven, before his time as a judge, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions.

According to some accounts he, one night over dinner, entered into a discussion with Almohad prince Abu Ya'qub Yusuf over the origin of the world and the nature of the mind. His thoughts on Aristotle's account of existence and the nature of the soul so impressed the ruler that he commissioned Averroes to write an entire set of commentaries.

A few years later the prince appointed Averroes as his personal physician. Averroes spent the rest of his life writing commentaries on virtually all of Aristotle's works, producing detailed and original reconstructive commentaries on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Physics, Posterior Analytics, De Caelo, and De Anima, as well as Plato's Republic – ideas that had been banned for centuries and virtually forgotten in the adjoining Holy Roman Empire.

Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions in philosophy, logic, medicine, music and jurisprudence. His writings covered more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence.

He wrote 20 books on medicine. Ibn Rushd's major work in medicine, al-Kulliyyat ("Generalities"), was written between 1153 and 1169. Its subject matter leans heavily on Galen.

It is subdivided into seven books: Tashrih al-a'lda' ("Anatomy of Organs"), al-Sihha ("Health"), al-Marad ("Sickness"), al- 'Alamat ("Symptoms"), al- Adwiya wa 'l-aghdhiya ("Drugs and Foods"), Hifz al-sihha ("Hygiene"), and Shifa alamrad ("Therapy"). The Latin translation, Colliget, was made in Padua in 1255, and the first edition was printed in Venice in 1482, followed by many other editions.

One of his many medical discoveries was his recognition that no one is affected twice by the smallpox. In his philosophical interpretations of the nature of mind, he asserted that the human soul is not independent, but shares a universal mind. This belief caused great controversy and was later declared heretical by both the Muslims and Christians alike because it contradicted the doctrine of personal immortality.

Although there is some conjecture as to how he met his end, some accounts say that because of his bold ideas, he was dismissed from his work and sent to Morocco where he was kept in prison till he died on December 12, 1198.