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