Welcome to Ibn Rushd Centre of Excellence for Islamic Research

The Ibn Rushd Centre of Excellence for Islamic Research is a specialised multi-disciplinary centre of excellence established to deliver world-class cutting-edge research in the various disciplines of Islamic Studies.

Its current and future aims are to achieve an international profile among scholars and students of Islam, and to deliver a multi-disciplinary teaching and research program of Islamic Studies at national and international levels.

The Centre aims to bring together established expertise in research and play an important role in public debates on contemporary Islamic issues, nationally and internationally. It offers professional development programs for the community.

OUR AIMS & OBJECTIVES

• The Centre aims to be a world-class centre of excellence in research and Islamic studies
• The Centre’s activities will focus on issues of significance and relevance to Islam and Muslims in the contemporary period with a special focus on the United Kingdom and Europe
• The Centre will function as a source of expert advice for governmental, national and international organisations on matters related to contemporary Islamic issues
• The Centre will establish international connections and develop research programmes that will advance international understanding of Islam, with particular focus on Islam and Muslims in the United Kingdom and Europe
• The Centre will provide courses to help equip people with a better understanding of Islam for work within Muslim communities, such as schoolteachers, social workers, health professionals, business managers, community leaders and other professionals

WHO IS IBN RUSHD?

Ibn Rushd is Abu Walīd Muhammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muhammad. He shares the same name with his grandson and consequently nicknamed al-Jadd (d. 520 AH ) ‘the Grandfather’ in order to differentiate him from his grandson. Ibn Rushd was amongst the most famous and influential Mālikī scholars of all time. Alongside the likes of Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī and his own grandson Ibn Rushd al-Ḥafīḍ, he shaped the way the Mālikī school is understood. Born in Cordova Shawwāl 450 AH, he began learning the Islamic sciences with the luminaries of his time. His main expertise lay in Mālikī jurisprudence, a field in which he wrote extensively. His fame grew such that Ibn Bashkawāl (d.578) stated ‘The people entrusted to him their relevant concerns’. It was due to this expertise that some considered him to be a mujtahid.

The standing of a scholar can be measured in two ways: the students they produced and the works they left behind. Ibn Rushd al-Jadd’s stature is demonstrated in both ways. His students include the famous Mālikī polymaths Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ (d.544) and Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-‘Arabī (d.543). He authored many books containing his fatawa. The most famous is his commentary on the Utibiyyah al-Bayān Wa al-Taḥṣīl published in twenty volumes is unparalleled and his Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahidāt Li-Bayān Mā Iqtadathū Rusūm al v-Mudawwanah Min al-Ahkām al-Shar‘iyyāt Wa al-Tahsilāt al-Muhkamāt Li-Ummahāt Masāi’lihā al-Mushkilāt. Ibn Rushd passed away in Jumādā al-Thānī 520 AH and was buried in Cordova.