800th anniversary of demise of Arab philosopher Averroes marked in Aordoba
An international congress is currently being held in Cordoba, Southern Spain, to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the demise of Arab philosopher and physician Averroes (Ibn Rushd).
Participants highlighted the stature of the Arab thinker who was born in Cordoba in 1126 and died in Marrakesh in 1198. They expressed hope that this congress would revive Averroes' message to humankind about the struggle against extremist thoughts and trends.
One of the participants, Carmen Calvo, Andalucian advisor for culture, said if there were, in our modern times, thinkers of the stature of Averroes, we would fend off any kind of extremism, not only religious extremism, but also political and economic extremism.
Abu Al-Walid Ibn Rushd's interpretation of Aristotle's metaphysics in light of the Koran impacted greatly on Christian thought in the middle ages.
On the sidelines of the congress, three books on Averroes will be published. One of the books will compile abstracts of his work and will be distributed in secondary schools in Andalucia to publicize this eminent Arab personality who gave to the ancient classical thought a new dimension and spread it, through translation schools, to the Europe of the Middle Ages.
Two similar congresses were held in Seville and Malaga earlier this year to commemorate the 8th centenary of the scholar's death.
Morocco's Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed had addressed a message to the participants in the Seville conference wherein he pointed out that Ibn Rushd has succeeded in establishing, on sound foundations, the values of tolerance and cultural and religious co-existence.
The crown prince called for the need to return to these values of tolerance and co-existence and urged the world to draw inspiration from his life to build new relations based on cultural openness and permanent dialogue.
Various cultural events, exhibitions of historical and archeological items from Moroccan, Spanish and Portuguese museums are held in commemoration of the 8th centenary of the death of Averroes.
Commemoration sessions will be held in Rabat next February and in Marrakesh next March.