Quotes from George F. Hourani

we may say that whenever a statement in Scripture conflicts in its apparent meaning with a conclusion of demonstration, if Scripture is considered carefully, 5 and the rest of its contents searched page by page, there will invariably be found among the expressions of Scripture something which in its apparent meaning bears witness to that allegorical interpretation67 or comes close to bearing witness.

There is little use in asking for an explanation of the eighty years' gap: the man for the occasion did not appear sooner, and might never have appeared. When he did, however, the challenge of Ghaz?l? was still felt to be a live issue; intellectual evolution was slower in those days. In Ibn Rushd's criticisms of Ghaz?l? we perceive a bantering animosity which treats "Ab? H?mid" almost as a living contemporary.

there is a sense of loneliness: the philosophers are called "weeds" (naw?bit), like the grass that springs up among the crops; they are strangers in their own country,

until the interview with the Prince Ibn Rushd was unaware of his favourable interest in philosophy, and feared some harsh penalty if he himself were known to be occupied in such a study.