When he was not occupied with his work as a Shariah court judge in Cordoba or writing manuals of Islamic law, Averroes (Ibn Rushd) wrote precious commentaries on the works of Plato and Aristotle. Discussing the Republic and the Noble Lie, Ibn Rushd remarks: ‘There is no lawgiver who does not employ fictitious tales, because this is necessary for the masses if they are to attain happiness.’12 Like his philosophical paragon Aristotle, Ibn Rushd believed that different audiences should be addressed with different types of proof or methods of argumentation. When it came to the masses, the ulama
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