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.jpg) Frontispiece of theSimon Ockley translation from 1708 (re-published in 1929) | |
| Author | Ibn Tufail |
|---|---|
| Original title | حي بن يقظان |
| Language | Arabic |
| Genre | Philosophy |
Publication date | around 1160 CE (555 AH) |
Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān orYaqdhan (Arabic:حي بن يقظان,lit. 'Alive son of Awake'; also known asHai eb'n Yockdan[1]) is anArabicphilosophical novel and anallegorical tale written byIbn Tufail (c. 1105 – 1185) in the early 12th century inal-Andalus.[2] Names by which the book is also known include theLatin:Philosophus Autodidactus ('The Self-Taught Philosopher'); andEnglish:The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan. Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān was named after an earlierArabic philosophicalromance of the same name, written byAvicenna during his imprisonment in the early 11th century,[3] even though both tales had different stories.[4] The novel greatly inspiredIslamic philosophy as well as majorEnlightenment thinkers.[5] It is the third most translated text from Arabic, after theQuran and theOne Thousand and One Nights.[6]
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, along with three poems, is all that remains of the writings ofIbn Tufail (c. 1105 – 1185), who lived under theAlmohads and served SultanAbu Yaqub Yusuf.[6] The book was influential among medieval Jewish scholars at theToledo School of Translators run byRaymond de Sauvetât, and its impact can be seen inThe Guide for the Perplexed ofMaimonides.[6] It was "discovered" in the West afterEdward Pococke ofOxford, while visiting a market inDamascus, found a manuscript ofHayy ibn Yaqdhan made inAlexandria in 1303 containing commentary in Hebrew.[6] His son,Edward Pococke Jr. published a Latin translation in 1671, subtitled "The Self-Taught Philosopher."[6][7]George Keith theQuaker translated it into English in 1674,Baruch Spinoza called for a Dutch translation,Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz championed the book in German circles, and a copy of the book went to theSorbonne.[6][7]Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731), author ofRobinson Crusoe, was heavily influenced by the work as well as by the memoir of the Scottish castawayAlexander Selkirk.[6]
In the Muslim world, the book is an honoredSufi text.[6]
The story revolves around Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, a little boy who grew up on an island in theIndies under theequator, isolated from the people, in the bosom of anantelope that raised him, feeding him with her milk. Ḥayy has just learned to walk and imitates the sounds of antelopes, birds, and other animals in his surroundings. He learns their languages, and he learns to follow the actions of animals by imitating theirinstinct.
He makes his own shoes and clothes from the skins of animals, and studies the stars. He reaches a higher level of knowledge, of the finest ofastrologists. His continuous explorations and observation of creatures and the environment lead him to gain great knowledge in natural science, philosophy, and religion. He concludes that, at the basis of the creation of the universe, a great creator must exist. Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān lived a humble modest life asSufi andforbade himself from eating meat.
Once 30 years old, he meets his first human, who has landed on his isolated Island. By the age of 49, he is ready to teach other people about the knowledge he gained throughout his life.
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan is anallegorical novel in which Ibn Tufail expresses philosophical and mystical teachings in asymbolic language in order to provide better understanding of such concepts. This novel is thus the most important work of Ibn Tufail, containing the main ideas that form his system.
Ibn Tufail was familiar with the differences in the ideas ofAl-Ghazali and those of the "NeoplatonizingAristotelianists"Al-Farabi andIbn Sina.[8] InHayy ibn Yaqdhan, Ibn Tufail sought to present "a conciliating synthesis of the Islamic speculative tradition with al-Ghazālī's Sufi-influenced recasting of Islamic mysticism and pietism."[8] Ibn Tufail borrows from Ibn Sina, using the title of one of his allegories and drawing inspiration from hisFloating Man thought experiment, but transforming the subject's sensory deprivation to social isolation.[8]
With this novel, Tufail focuses on finding solutions to the three main problems discussed during his period:[9]
Beyond leaving an enormous impact onAndalusi literature,Arabic literature, andclassical Islamic philosophy,Hayy ibn Yaqdhan influenced laterEuropean literature during theAge of Enlightenment, turning into a best-seller during the 17th-18th centuries.[10][5] The novel particularly influenced the philosophies and scientific thought of vanguards ofmodernWestern philosophy and theScientific Revolution such asThomas Hobbes,John Locke,Christiaan Huygens,Isaac Newton, andImmanuel Kant.[11] Beyond foreshadowingMolyneux's Problem,[12] the novel specifically inspired John Locke's concept oftabula rasa as propounded inAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690),[13] subsequently inspiring the philosophies of later modernempiricists, such asDavid Hume andGeorge Berkeley. The novel's notion ofmaterialism also has similarities toKarl Marx'shistorical materialism.[14] The English translation byorientalistSimon Ockley inspired thedesert island narrative ofDaniel Defoe's classicRobinson Crusoe.[15][16][17][18]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)"If you want a comparison that will make you clearly grasp the difference between theperception, such as it is understood by that sect [the Sufis] and the perception as others understand it, imagine a person bornblind, endowed however with a happy naturaltemperament, with a lively and firmintelligence, a surememory, a straight sprite, who grew up from the time he was an infant in a city where he never stopped learning, by means of thesenses he did dispose of, to know the inhabitants individually, the numerous species of beings, living as well as non-living, there, the streets and sidestreets, the houses, the steps, in such a manner as to be able to cross the city without a guide, and to recognize immediately those he met; thecolors alone would not be known to him except by the names they bore, and by certain definitions that designated them. Suppose that he had arrived at this point and suddenly, his eyes were opened, he recovered his view, and he crosses the entire city, making a tour of it. He would find no object different from the idea he had made of it; he would encounter nothing he didn’t recognize, he would find the colors conformable to the descriptions of them that had been given to him; and in this there would only be two new important things for him, one the consequence of the other: a clarity, a greaterbrightness, and a great voluptuousness."
The Improvement of Human Reason public domain audiobook atLibriVox