Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought

The Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought (Arabic: جائزة ابن رشد للفكر الحرّ‎‎; German: Ibn-Ruschd-Preis für freies Denken) is awarded for merits concerning democracy and freedom of speech in the Arab world. The prize is endowed with EUR 2,500, and is awarded once a year. It has been awarded since 1999 by the non-governmental Ibn-Rushd-Fund (Arabic: مؤسسة ابن رشد للفكر الحرّ‎‎) whose members are for the most part Arab citizens living in Germany. The Fund was founded 1998 on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of Ibn Rushd's death. Ibn Rushd, a philosopher, physician and judge, better known as Averroës in medieval Europe was one of the best-known commentators on Aristotle and critic of early theologian and later Sufi mystic al-Ghazali (1058-1111). The fund has chosen the name of Ibn-Rushd as he stands for building a bridge between Islam and enlightenment. The judging committee wants to link to that flowering theologic and philosophic stage in the Arab world.

Prize winners

• 1999 Al Jazeera, Qatari television channel
• 2000 Issam Abdulhadi, Palestinian women's rights campaigner
• 2001 Mahmud Amin al-Alim, Egyptian publicist
• 2002 Azmi Bishara, Arab member of the Knesset
• 2003 Mohammed Arkoun, Algerian Islam scientist, sociologist, philosopher and professor (Sorbonne)
• 2004 Sonallah Ibrahim, Egyptian author
• 2005 Nasr Abu Zayd, Egyptian Islam scientist and hermeneutist
• 2006 Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese women's rights campaigner
• 2007 Nouri Bouzid, Tunisian filmmaker
• 2008 Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, Moroccan philosopher and literary scientist
• 2009 Samir Amin, Egyptian economist and critic of neocolonialism
• 2010 al-Hewar al-Mutamaddin, Arabian internet plattform
• 2011 Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian journalist
• 2012 Razan Zaitouneh, Syrian advocate and human rights activist
• 2013 Rim Banna, Palestinian singer
• 2014 Rashid al-Ghannushi, Tunisian politician

External links

• Ibn Rushd Fund for Freedom of Thought