Ibn Rushd's Influence On Iberia

The Iberian Peninsula, present-day Spain and Portugal, was invaded by Muslim forces in 711 AD. Iberia formed a religiously tolerant society in the ancient world. Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted peacefully in Iberia. Al-Andalus promoted a communal relationship between the religious communities where they benefited from each other’s culture, and it flourished in wisdom and wealth. Iberia is considered to be a modern society as it embraced diversity, rationalized faith and promoted development in science and technology. The modern society was able to integrate knowledge from different cultures to make important contributions in the fields of art and science. The Christian monarchs recaptured Spain in 1492 AD and deported Muslims and Jews out of the country. Even though Muslims in Iberia were expelled after the Christian Reconquista, Moorish culture had long lasting influence on architecture, philosophy, and medicine in the modern world.
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Ibn Rushd (1126-1198 AD) was known for his commentaries on Aristotle’s work. He believed religion is different to the knowledge in philosophy, and they have different mediums of reaching the truth. Ibn Rushd played a vital role in popularizing neo-Platonic views in the Islamic world (Leaman 1980, 179). Ibn Rushd argues that “philosophy can show how the revealed truth of Islam can be seen as demonstratively valid” (Leaman 1980, 181). Ibn Rushd developed philosophical foundations and asserted for rationalism. Ibn Rushd proposed that “the soul is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine; while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul” (International Humanist Ethical Union 2009). In other words, Ibn Rushd promoted secularism and believed that everyone is connected by the faith in