Averroes (also Ibn Rushd) was an Andalusian philosopher and thinker who wrote on philosophy, medicine, theology, astronomy, physics, law and linguistics. He was a great contributor to knowledge both in the West and in the Islamic World.
Averroes was also significant because of his support of the peaceful collaboration between Jews, Muslims and Christians in Spain. He argued that the holy scriptures needed to be interpreted through the eyes of reason. And if the teachings were found to be contrary to reason, they should be taken as metaphors and allegories. This position helped reduced religious fanaticism. He also proposed the "unity of the intellect thesis," which proposed that all humans share the same intellect. This reduced divisions between the different denominations, but was very controversial within the Catholic Church.