Reviewing and Criticizing Averroes’s Viewpoint on Granting the People of Reasoning (Ahl al-Burhān) the Right to Interpret the Quran Esoterically

Averroes or Ibn Rushd (520/1126-595/1198), the great Western Islamic thinker, contemplated the relationship between philosophy and religion seriously and created some important works such as Fasl al-maqal fīmā bayn al-ḥikma wa-l-sharīʿa min ittiṣāl (The decisive treatise, determining the nature of the connection between religion and philosophy), al-Kashf ʿan manāhij al-adillah fī ʿaqāʾid al-milla (Discovery of the methods of proof concerning religious doctrines), and Tahāfut al-tahāfut (The incoherence of the incoherence). Ibn Rushd believed that there is no contradiction between religion and philosophy, and they bear no opposition to each other. He argues that since Sharia (religious law) is true and encourages people to engage in rational reasoning which leads to knowledge of the Truth, then both are the truth; hence, truth does not oppose truth. On the contrary, these two agree and recognize each other. However, this statement that philosophy does not contradict religion is related to the innermost layer of religion and Quranic verses because philosophy or rational contemplation sometimes go against the exoteric meaning of religious ideas and scripture phrases. Achieving the esoteric meaning of the verses through inner interpretation or taʾwīl is Averroes's solution to eliminate this confliction. Unlike some other Islamic philosophers, Ibn Rushd does not accept the unity of religion and philosophy but simply thinks of their consistency with each other and the lack of opposition between them. That is why philosophy and religion are forced to be independent and separated from each other for their own safety. Therefore, we should not confuse the issues related to each of them. This current paper addresses the problem of the coordination between philosophy and religion from Ibn Rushd’s point of view in general, and his theory on interpretation, in particular. I will demonstrate that one of the main goals of Averroes in raising the esoteric interpretation in the discussion of the harmony between religion and philosophy is to defend philosophy and to grant the “people of reasoning” (philosophers) the right to interpret the Quran esoterically. In this paper, we attempt to show that Averroes's theory has many insights to offer. Ultimately, we will review and criticize this theory from the perspectives of Khwaja Nasir Tusi and Mulla Sadra.