Averroes (Arabic: Ibn Rushd), 1126-98, was a Spanish-Arab philosopher, the most noted Aristotelian scholar in Islam. Called the "commentator" by Thomas Aquinas, Averroes composed 38 treatises on the various works of Aristotle, as well as original tracts on astronomy, physics, and medicine. His primary work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (c.1180; Eng. trans., 1954), a spirited defense of his Neoplatonic and Aristotelian philosophy.

Averroes studied medicine and law, then served as a judge in Seville and later at Cordoba. In 1182 he became chief physician to the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, whose favor he enjoyed until Yusuf's death, in 1184. His religious views were considered heretical by orthodox Muslims, however, and he was banished from the court by the caliph Mansur in 1195. He was recalled from exile in 1198 but died soon after.

Averroes' philosophy represents a continuation of the Hellenizing traditions of al-Farabi and Avicenna; his commentaries on the Greek philosophers were noted for their clear analysis. Although he enjoyed a high reputation in the Muslim world of learning, he was more influential among Christian and Jewish philosophers. The guiding principle of all his writings was that philosophy and religion must agree. He viewed philosophers as prophets who teach the same principles as religious prophets but in a higher, more abstract form.