Averroes was born Ibn Rushd in 1128 in Cordova, Spain. He was well-educated and earned a position as Governor. He was in office for twenty years, but also studied medicine, philosophy, religion, and law. He wrote many books on each of these subjects. Averroes is even credited with discovering sun spots and determining that physical exercise is beneficial to a person's health and well-being.

Many of Averroes' contemporaries lived in the eastern part of the Islamic empire while he prospered in Western Europe. Many of his ideas were greatly influenced by Aristotle. Much of his philosophical writing also dealt with religion. He tried to explain that the two topics could be combined and often needed each other to survive. He argued that religion used signs and symbolism to relate to the illiterate and uneducated, while philosophy was for the learned or educated. He believed that Muslims should look into philosophy as it was the quintessential form of religion. Thus, he felt that philosophers themselves were members of an elite.

Averroes is similar to Al-Farabi in that they both believed that there are many similarities between philosophy and Islamic revelation, and the two need each other to succeed. They both believed that philosophizing about religion was not for everyone, just the educated. The common people could read the Qur'an literally. Therefore, the Qur'an is the ultimate book which can guide both the masses and the educated leaders. This is similar to Plato's notion that the ordinary citizens must be led by the educated who know better than themselves; yet each follow the same laws.