The death of the philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

Abu'l-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd of Cordoba — its judge, physician and philosopher, commentator on Aristotle whose works shaped European thought for centuries, and author of "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" in comparative jurisprudence — died in Marrakesh.

Ibn Rushd was born in Cordoba in 520 AH into a house of judgeship and learning. He combined jurisprudence, medicine, philosophy and astronomy, held the judgeship of Seville then the grand judgeship of Cordoba, and was the private physician of the Almohad caliph.

The caliph Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf commissioned him to comment on the works of Aristotle, and he produced his famous commentaries, later translated into Latin and Hebrew. In Europe he became known as "the Great Commentator" and profoundly influenced the philosophers of the Middle Ages.

Late in his life he was put on trial and exiled to Lucena, then pardoned. He died in Marrakesh on 9 Safar 595 AH, and his body was later moved to Cordoba. Among his surviving works are "Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid," "Tahafut al-Tahafut," and "al-Kulliyyat fi'l-Tibb."