Abu ʾl-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd[a] (December 1058 – 8 December 1126),[b] nicknamedal-Jadd ("the grandfather"), was aMuslim jurist of theMālikī school. He was the most prominentMālikī jurist of his time inal-Andalus (Spain) andthe Maghrib (northwest Africa), but his fame today rests on being the grandfather of the philosopher of the same name,Ibn Rushd (Averroes), nicknamedal-Ḥafīd ("the grandson").[1]
The main sources of Ibn Rushd's life are his biographical entry in the catalogue of teachers,al-Ghunya, of his pupil,al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ. TheKitāb al-ṣila ofIbn Bashkuwāl is another primary source. Most later biographies of Ibn Rushd al-Jadd depend on these. The 14th-centuryal-Marqaba al-ʿulyā ofal-Bunnāhī, a history of Andalusianqāḍīs, also transmits some information from the biography of Ibn Rushd's pupil Ibn al-Wazzān and the anonymous 13th-century Andalusian historyal-Ḥulal al-mawshiyya.[3]
Ibn Rushd was a native of the city ofCórdoba. From 1117 until his resignation in 1121, he held the highest judicial office in theAlmoravid Emirate, that ofqāḍī ʾl-jamāʿa in Córdoba.[1]
On 10 March 1126, KingAlfonso of Aragon was defeated in thebattle of Arniswāl. During his campaign, he had received support from theMozarabs, Christians living under Almoravid rule. On 30 March, Ibn Rushd went toMarrakesh to provide advice to the EmirʿAlī ibn Yūsuf. He advised that the Mozarabs had forfeited theirdhimmī status by treason and urged ʿAlī to deport them to Morocco. As a result, many were relocated toSalé andMeknès. He also advised ʿAlī to fortify the cities of al-Andalus with walls, to wall off Marrakesh and to replaceAbū Ṭāhir Tamīm, ʿAlī's brother, as governor of al-Andalus.
Ibn Rushd returned to Córdoba in July 1126 and died there five months later. He was buried in the cemetery of Ibn ʿAbbās in the eastern quarter.[1]
Ibn Rushd was primarily a systematizer ofuṣūl al-fiqh (science of law), building on the basis of the generation of scholars who preceded him.[4] The titles of seventeen works by Ibn Rushd are known, sixteen of them onIslamic law and one on theʿaqīda (creed).[3] Three of his works stand out: theMuqaddimāt,[c] a commentary on theMudawwana ofSaḥnūn ibn Saʿīd; theal-Bayān wa ʾl-taḥṣīl,[d] a commentary on theMustakhraja (ʿUtbiyya) ofal-ʿUtbī; and theFatāwā,[e] a collection of hisfatwās (rulings), published by his pupil, Ibn al-Wazzān.[1][3] The last is the earliest such collection from al-Andalus.[3]