The Contention Between Secular and Revealed Law: Analyzing Ibn Rushd’s Solution to the Problem of the “Virtuous Society”

Abstract:This article is an analysis of the political thought of Ibn Rushd and its significance for the current conflict in Islamic political thought between liberal, secular and conservative Islamist thinkers over the meaning of the “virtuous society” and how it can be implemented. It is argued that the thought of Ibn Rushd offers a concept of the virtuous society that reconciles secular law and religious Sharī‘a law. The article analyzes Ibn Rushd’s Commentary on Plato’s Republic, and assesses it as potentially being able to reconcile the philosophical conflict between logically discerned law and revealed law. It is contended that the separation between “religious” and “political” (i.e., philosophical) domains often attributed to Ibn Rushd does not fully consider the entirety of Ibn Rushd’s writings and interprets his works without regard for their historical and religious contextual significance.