Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Tufayl

FYS, 8.27.05
N. Rustomji

Educating the Self: Ibn Tufayl (d. AD 1185-6/581 AH) and Hayy ibn Yaqzan

Hayy ibn Yazqan is a philosophical tale whose title literally translates as "Living (or Alive) son of Awake
(or Aware)." In the story, an abandoned infant, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, grows up on an uninhabited island and is
raised by a gazelle, He teaches himself physical survival, the laws of the universe, and eventually reaches a
mystical state. A visitor named Absal comes to the island, and Hayy ibn Yazqan learns that his educational
confirms Absal's knowledge of religion. They return to Absal's island to teach spiritual lessons to the
inhabitants, but face resistance and soon return to the original island to live their lives. What the story
.means has led to numerous interpretations.

I. Hayy ibn Yazqan and Islamic Intellectual History

- Ibn Sina (AD 980-1037/370-429 AH) vs. al-Ghazali (AD 1058-1111/ 450-505 AH). An important
moment in Islamic intellectual history is when al-Ghazali composes Incoherence of the Philosophers in
an attempt to refute generally philosophical claims and to defeat specifically the philosophical stance of
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) who argued (among other things) that the universe consists of determined and
necessitated events and God is only the beginning. AI-Ghazali finds this notion of causality unacceptable
and argues (among other things) that God is the cause of each and every event. In his work, he
demonstrates how philosophy cannot establish conclusions based on its premises and that philosophical
reasoning is incompatible with religious modes of reasoning.
- AI-Ghazali vs. Ibn Rushd (AD 1126-1198/520-595 AH). While al-Ghazali's refutation would eventually
be associated with the decline of philosophical movement, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) wrote a refutation of al-
Ghazali's work entitled the Incoherence of the Incoherence. Here he reestablishes the importance of
philosophy as one of the modes of reasoning. His stance that a person can obtain truth/reach God through
both philosophical reasoning and more spiritual modes of faith was interpreted by Scholastics as the
"doctrine of the double truth." Ibn Rushd's works constituted one ofthe most recognized forms of
Andalusian philosophy (a distinction that Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan also shares) and was employed
by Scholastics such as Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.
- Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan borrows its title IToma story by Ibn Sina, Qissat Hayy ibn Yaqzan. While
the titles are similar, the philosophical import is not. Ibn Sina's Hayy is often interpreted as the Active
Intellect that emanates ITompure Intelligence, whereas Ibn Tufayl makes his character the
personification of the human active Intellect and shows how an individual alone can use the intellect to
gain knowledge that is in accordance with revelation. The work also has aesthetic resonances with
Abraham ibn 'Ezra's (1092-1167 AD) Hayy ben Mekis.
- The work was first published in 1671 AD with a Latin translation by Edward Pocock at Oxford and was
immediately followed by English translations and a German and Dutch translation.
- Some scholars suggest that Defoe's Robinson Crusoe has some connection with ackley's English
translation of Hayy ibn Yaqzan in 1708 and.1731 AD.

II. Biography

(excerpted ITomB. Carra de Vaux's "Ibn TufayF' in the Encyclopedia of Islam, Revised Edition)
- Little is known ofIbn Tufayl's biography. He was born in the first decade ofthe 12thcentury AD in Wadi
Ash, 40 miles north east of Granada.
- He practiced as a physician in Granada and then became the secretary to the governor of the province.
- In 1154 AD, he became secretary to the governor of Ceuta and Tangier.
- In 1163-84AD, he received the appointment of court physician to Almohad sultan Abu Yaq'ub Yusuf
who was known for being interested in philosophy. One ofIbn Tufayl's pupils noted, "The commander of
the faithful was exceedingly attached to him (Ibn Tufayl). I am told that he remained whole days and nights

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in the place with him without appearing in public." Hayy ibn Yaqzan was probably written during this time
period at the court.
- It is to Sultan Abu Yaq'ub Yusufthat Ibn Tufayl introduced the young Ibn Rushd, and it is reported that
Ibn Tufayl advised Ibn Rushd to write a commentary on the works of Aristotle.
- Ibn Tufayl dies in Marrakech in 1185-6.

III. Stages in the Text

I. Narrator intimates the ecstasy experienced beyond reason, relates his view of intellectual
history (95-102), and invites the reader to journey: "... If I tell you of the highest levels I
reached without first going over the preliminary stages that lead there, it would do you no
more good than blind faith-as if you approved not because my arguments warrant
acceptance, but because we are friends. I expect better of you than that" (102-103).
II. Narrator introduces two accounts ofHayy ibn Yazqan's origins (103-109)
III. Hayy's Practical Knowledge I
a. Relationship with doe (109-111)
b. Hayy imitates animal calls (109)
c. Hayy clothes and defends himself (110-111)
d. Hayy dissects the doe and thinks of death (113-4)
IV. Hayy's Practical Knowledge II
a. Hayy discovers fire (115)
b. Hayy eats fish (116)
c. Hayy believes in spirit of each animal (117)
d. Hayy builds a storehouse (118)
e. Hayy studies animal and plant species and discovers souls (120-123)
f. Hayy questions cause (127)
V. Hayy's Metaphysical Knowledge
a. Hayy turns to the heavens (128) ,
b. Hayy discovers that the "world must have a non-corporeal cause" (131)
c. "Now every motion requires a mover" (132)
d. Hayy discovers the necessity of the Creator and Creation (133-136)
e. Hayy questions Transcendence (136-141)
f. Hayy is aware of his three selves: inarticulate animal, celestial body, Necessary exigent
being (142)
g. Hayy seeks the third form of mimesis of the Necessary exigent being (143-150)
VI. Hayy seeks annihilation to become Truth (150-156)
VII. Narrator introduces Absal and mentions again two conflicting accounts (156)
a. Absal travels to Hayy's island (156)
b. Absal and Hayy meet (158-160)
c. Absal teaches Hayy language and religion (160-162)
d. Hayy desires to teach men who have gone astray (162)
VIII. Hayy and Absal travel to the second (Absal's) island (162)
a. Hayy discover mankind and ignorance (163-165)
b. Hayy and Absal return to the fITSt(Hayy's) island (165-166)
IX. Narrator closes the tale with the warning that the tale stilI has a sheer veil "easily pierced by
those fit to do so, but capable of growing so thick to those unworthy of passing beyond that

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 they will never breach it," and ends with the wish that the tale will "excite desire and inspire a
passion to start out along this road" (166).

IV. Possible Discussion Questions

1. How does the Narrator advise the reader to approach the text?
2. What function do the two birth narratives play in the story ofHayy ibn Yaqzan?
3. How would you describe Hayy ibn Yaqzan' s process of self-education?
4. After Hayy ibn Yaqzan questions the Cause for existence, he discovers the metaphysical world.
What does he find about his "true self?"
5. How would you characterize Hayy ibn Yaqzan's initial meeting with Absal?
6. Does Absal differ ITomHayy ibn Yaqzan?
7. After traveling with Absal to the second island, what does Hayy ibn Yaqzan discover about
Humanity? .
8. Why does the Narrator close with the mention of a "sheer veil"?