The Ibn Rushd Syndrome: In Search of Rational Muslim

Abstract

In recent times, an increasing number of academics, journalists, and policymakers have been involved in reinterpreting, reforming and often times repairing Islam. Central to these discourses are two types of “Islam”: At one hand, there is the Islam that is incompatible with “Western” values and norms. And on the other hand, there is the Islam that share many principles associated with Western ideas. For the latter, the name of Ibn Rushd is often mentioned as the epitome of Islamic rationalism. Conversely, the works of Abū Hamid al-Ghazālī (1058-1111) is presented as diametrically opposite to Ibn Rushd's rationalism. The role of “Rational Muslim often times becomes a moment of contentions within these debates. I term this quest to discover the rational Muslim the “Ibn Rushd Syndrome” in honor of the great philosopher and to highlight the history of rationalism in Islam. The main purpose of this paper is to complicate the simplified trajectory of Islamic thought by focusing on the role of reason and rationality.