Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath (c. 1105?1185)
Ibn ?ufayl
(full
Arabic name
:
??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ????????
?Ab? Bakr Mu?ammad bin ?Abd al-Malik bin Mu?ammad bin ?ufayl al-Qaysiyy al-?Andalusiyy
;
Latinized
form:
Abubacer Aben Tofail
;
Anglicized
form:
Abubekar
or
Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail
;
c.
1105
– 1185) was an
Arab
Andalusian
Muslim
polymath
: a
writer
,
Islamic philosopher
,
Islamic theologian
,
physician
,
astronomer
, and
vizier
.
[1]
As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first
philosophical novel
,
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
(The Living Son of the Vigilant)
,
considered a major work of Arabic literature emerging from
Al-Andalus
.
[2]
As a physician, he was an early supporter of
dissection
and
autopsy
, which was expressed in his novel.
[3]
Life
[
edit
]
Born in Guadix, near
Granada
, he was educated by
Ibn Bajjah
(Avempace).
[4]
His family were from the Arab
Qays tribe
.
[5]
He was a secretary for several leaders, including the rulers of
Ceuta
and
Tangier
, in 1154.
[6]
He also served as a secretary for the ruler of
Granada
, and later as
vizier
and
physician
for
Abu Yaqub Yusuf
, the
Almohad
caliph,
[4]
to whom he recommended
Ibn Rushd
(Averroes) as his own future successor in 1169.
[7]
Ibn Rushd
later reports this event and describes how Ibn Tufayl then inspired him to write his famous
Aristotelian
commentaries:
Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl summoned me one day and told me that he had heard the
Commander of the Faithful
complaining about the disjointedness of Aristotle's mode of expression ? or that of the translators ? and the resultant obscurity of his intentions. He said that if someone took on these books who could summarize them and clarify their aims after first thoroughly understanding them himself, people would have an easier time comprehending them. "If you have the energy," Ibn Tufayl told me, "you do it. I'm confident you can because I know what a good mind and devoted character you have, and how dedicated you are to the art. You understand that only my great age, the cares of my office ? and my commitment to another task that I think even more vital ? keep me from doing it myself."
[8]
Ibn Rushd became Ibn Tufayl's successor after he retired in 1182; Ibn Tufayl died several years later in
Morocco
in 1185. The astronomer
Nur Ed-Din Al-Bitruji
was also a disciple of Ibn Tufayl. Al-Bitruji was influenced by him to follow the Aristotelian system of astronomy, as he had originally followed the Ptolemaic system of astronomy.
[9]
His work in astronomy was historically significant as he played a major role in overturning the Ptolemaic ideas on astronomy.
[10]
This event in history is called the "Andalusian Revolt", where he influenced many, including Al-Bitruji, to desert the Ptolemaic ideas.
[10]
He was influential in the development of Islamic astronomy. Many later astronomers and scholars built upon his ideas and used his work as a basis for their own research and discoveries.
[11]
Many Islamic philosophers, writers, physicians, and astronomers have been influenced by Ibn Tufayl and his work. These people include
Nur al-Din al-Bitruji
, Abu ‘Abdallah Muhammad b. al-Abbar,
Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi
,
Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari
, and
Ibn al-Khatib
.
[12]
Ibn Tufayl served as the secretary of the Almohad governor of Granada, and later as the secretary of the Almohad governor of Ceuta and Tangiers (Ab? Sa??d ?Uthm?n, one of
'Abd al-Mu'min
's sons). Eventually, Ibn Tufayl moved to the service of
Ab? Ya?q?b Y?suf
, who was a prince at the time and later became the second Almohad caliph.
[13]
Hayy ibn Yaqzan
[
edit
]
Ibn Tufayl was the author of
?ayy bin Yaq??n
(
Arabic
:
?? ?? ?????
,
lit.
'Alive, son of Awake'), also known as
Philosophus Autodidactus
in Latin, a philosophical
romance
and allegorical novel inspired by
Avicennism
and
Sufism
, and which tells the story of an
autodidactic
feral child
, raised by a
gazelle
and living alone on a
desert island
, who, without contact with other human beings, discovers ultimate truth through a systematic process of
reasoned
inquiry
. Hayy ultimately comes into contact with civilization and religion when he meets a
castaway
named Absal (As?l in some translations). He determines that certain trappings of
religion
, namely imagery and dependence on material goods, are necessary for the multitude in order that they might have decent lives. However, imagery and material goods are distractions from the truth and ought to be abandoned by those whose reason recognizes that they are. The names of the characters in the novel, ?ayy ibn Yaq??n, Salam?n, and Abs?l were borrowed from
Ibn Sina's
tales.
[14]
The title of the novel is also the same as Ibn Sina's novel. Ibn Tufayl did this on purpose to use the characters and the title as a small reference to Ibn Sina, as he wanted to touch upon his philosophy.
[14]
Ibn Tufayl's
Philosophus Autodidactus
was written as a response to
al-Ghazali
's
The Incoherence of the Philosophers
. In the 13th century,
Ibn al-Nafis
later wrote the
Al-Risalah al-Kamiliyyah fil Siera al-Nabawiyyah
(known as
Theologus Autodidactus
in the West) as a response to Ibn Tufayl's
Philosophus Autodidactus
.
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
had a significant influence on both
Arabic literature
and
European literature
,
[15]
and it went on to become an influential best-seller throughout
Western Europe
in the 17th and 18th centuries.
[16]
[17]
The work also had a "profound influence" on both
classical Islamic philosophy
and
modern
Western philosophy
.
[18]
It became "one of the most important books that heralded the
Scientific Revolution
" and
European Enlightenment
, and the thoughts expressed in the novel can be found "in different variations and to different degrees in the books of
Thomas Hobbes
,
John Locke
,
Isaac Newton
, and
Immanuel Kant
."
[19]
A
Latin
translation of the work, entitled
Philosophus Autodidactus
, first appeared in 1671, prepared by
Edward Pococke
the Younger. The first English translation (by
Simon Ockley
) was published in 1708. These translations later may have inspired
Daniel Defoe
to write
Robinson Crusoe
, which also featured a
desert island
narrative.
[20]
[21]
[22]
The novel also inspired the concept of "
tabula rasa
" developed in
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
(1690) by
John Locke
, who was a student of Pococke.
[23]
His
Essay
went on to become one of the principal sources of
empiricism
in modern Western philosophy, and influenced many enlightenment
philosophers
, such as
David Hume
and
George Berkeley
. Hayy's ideas on
materialism
in the novel also have some similarities to
Karl Marx
's
historical materialism
.
[24]
It also foreshadowed
Molyneux's Problem
, proposed by
William Molyneux
to Locke, who included it in the second book of
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
.
[25]
[26]
Other European writers influenced by
Philosophus Autodidactus
included
Gottfried Leibniz
,
[15]
Melchisedech Thevenot
,
John Wallis
,
Christiaan Huygens
,
[27]
George Keith
,
Robert Barclay
, the
Quakers
,
[28]
Samuel Hartlib
,
[29]
and
Voltaire
.
[30]
In more recent readings,
Nadia Maftouni
has coined the term
Sciart
for intertwined artistic and scientific activities and has described Ibn Tufayl's
Hayy ibn Yaqzan
as a leading instant which touches on issues like
human anatomy
,
autopsy
, and
vivisection
within the confines of his novel.
[31]
Works
[
edit
]
- Ra?az ?aw?l f? a?-?ibb
(
Arabic
:
??? ???? ?? ????
,
lit.
'Long Poem in Rajaz Metre on Medical Science'
[9]
): Is a long poem describing how to diagnose illnesses, and find their cures. The poem is written in the Arabic
Rajaz
metre. It was only found recently in the capital of
Morocco
, which is
Rabat
.
[9]
[32]
- Arabic text of
Hayy bin Yaqzan
from Wikisource
- Full pdf of French translation of
Hayy bin Yaqzan
from Google Books
- English translations of
Hayy bin Yaqzan
(in chronological order)
- The improvement of human reason, exhibited in the life of Hai ebn Yokdhan
, written in Arabic above 500 years ago, by Abu Jaafar ebn Tophail, newly translated from the original Arabic, by Simon Ockley. With an appendix, in which the possibility of man's attaining of the true knowledge of God, and things necessary to salvation, without instruction, is briefly considered. London: Printed and sold by E. Powell, 1708.
- Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail,
The history of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan
, translated from the Arabic by Simon Ockley, revised, with an introduction by A.S. Fulton. London: Chapman and Hall, 1929.
available online
(omits the introductory section)
- Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqz?n: a philosophical tale
, translated with introduction and notes by Lenn Evan Goodman. New York: Twayne, 1972.
- The journey of the soul: the story of Hai bin Yaqzan
, as told by Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Tufail, a new translation by Riad Kocache. London: Octagon, 1982.
- Two Andalusian philosophers
, translated from the Arabic with an introduction and notes by Jim Colville. London: Kegan Paul, 1999.
- Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings
, ed. Muhammad Ali Khalidi. Cambridge University Press, 2005. (omits the introductory section; omits the conclusion beginning with the protagonist's acquaintance with Absal; includes §§1-98 of 121 as numbered in the Ockley-Fulton version)
- Ben-Zaken, Avner, "Taming the Mystic", in Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).
ISBN
978-0801897399
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Avempace
,
Encyclopædia Britannica
, 2007.
- ^
Stearns, Peter N. "Arabic Language and Literature." In
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World
. Oxford University Press, 2008.
- ^
Jon Mcginnis,
Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources
, p. 284,
Hackett Publishing Company
,
ISBN
0-87220-871-0
.
- ^
a
b
Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911).
"Ibn ?ufail"
. In
Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 223.
- ^
Carra de Vaux, B., "Ibn ?ufayl", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 16 April 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3394
- ^
"Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tufayl"
.
Encyclopedia of World Biography
.
8
: 96. 2004 – via Gale eBooks.
- ^
Avner Ben-Zaken, "Taming the Mystic", in Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).
ISBN
978-0801897399
.
- ^
Seyyed
Hossein Nasr
and
Oliver Leaman
(1996),
History of Islamic Philosophy
, p. 314,
Routledge
,
ISBN
0-415-13159-6
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Ibn Tufayl, Abu Bakr Muhammad"
.
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
.
13
: 488?489. 2008 – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ^
a
b
Bo?ovi?, Mihajlo (2017).
"The Process of Civilization in Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan"
.
Kom (Beograd)
.
2
: 77?90 – via ResearchGate.
- ^
"Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on Judaic Thought"
.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
. 10 December 2007.
Retrieved 2023-02-22
.
- ^
Matar, Nabil (2013).
"Ibn Tufayl (ca. 1105?85)"
.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought
: 241?242 – via Gale eBooks.
- ^
Fierro, Maribel (1 October 2020). "Ibn ?ufayl's ?ayy ibn Yaq??n : An Almohad Reading".
Islam and Christian?Muslim Relations
.
31
(4): 385?405.
doi
:
10.1080/09596410.2020.1846448
.
hdl
:
10261/236766
.
S2CID
230610974
.
- ^
a
b
Corbin, Henry (2006).
"Ibn ?ufayl (d. 580 AH/1185 CE)"
.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
.
4
: 550?551 – via Gale eBooks.
- ^
a
b
Martin Wainwright,
Desert island scripts
,
The Guardian
, 22 March 2003.
- ^
Avner Ben-Zaken, Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).
ISBN
978-0801897399
.
- ^
G. A. Russell (1994),
The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England
, p. 228,
Brill Publishers
,
ISBN
978-90-04-09888-6
.
- ^
G. J. Toomer
(1996),
Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England
, p. 218,
Oxford University Press
,
ISBN
0-19-820291-1
.
- ^
Samar Attar
,
The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought
, Lexington Books,
ISBN
0-7391-1989-3
.
- ^
Nawal Muhammad Hassan (1980),
Hayy bin Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe: A study of an early Arabic impact on English literature
, Al-Rashid House for Publication.
- ^
Cyril Glasse (2001),
New
Encyclopedia of Islam
, p. 202, Rowman Altamira,
ISBN
0-7591-0190-6
.
- ^
Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists",
Journal of Religion and Health
43
(4): 357?377 [369].
- ^
G. A. Russell (1994),
The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England
, pp. 224?239,
Brill Publishers
,
ISBN
978-90-04-09888-6
.
- ^
Dominique Urvoy, "The Rationality of Everyday Life: The Andalusian Tradition? (Aropos of Hayy's First Experiences)", in Lawrence I. Conrad (1996),
The World of Ibn Tufayl: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on ?ayy Ibn Yaq??n
, pp. 38?46,
Brill Publishers
,
ISBN
90-04-09300-1
.
- ^
"Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik Ibn Tufayl and Leon Gauthier (1981),
Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan
, p. 5, Editions de la Mediterranee"
. 19 April 2007.
"If you want a comparison that will make you clearly grasp the difference between the
perception
, such as it is understood by that sect [the Sufis] and the perception as others understand it, imagine a person born
blind
, endowed however with a happy natural
temperament
, with a lively and firm
intelligence
, a sure
memory
, a straight sprite, who grew up from the time he was an infant in a city where he never stopped learning, by means of the
senses
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; the
colors
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 greater
brightness
, and a great voluptuousness."
- ^
Diana Lobel (2006),
A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Ba?ya Ibn Paq?da's Duties of the Heart
, p. 24,
University of Pennsylvania Press
,
ISBN
0-8122-3953-9
.
- ^
G. A. Russell (1994),
The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England
, p. 227,
Brill Publishers
,
ISBN
978-90-04-09888-6
.
- ^
G. A. Russell (1994),
The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England
, p. 247,
Brill Publishers
,
ISBN
978-90-04-09888-6
.
- ^
G. J. Toomer
(1996),
Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England
, p. 222,
Oxford University Press
,
ISBN
0-19-820291-1
.
- ^
Tor Eigeland,
The Ripening Years
Archived
2008-03-01 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Saudi Aramco World
, September?October 1976.
- ^
Maftouni, Nadia (2019).
"Concept of sciart in the Andalusian Ibn Tufail"
.
Pensamiento. Revista de Investigacion e Informacion Filosofica
.
75
(283 S.Esp): 543?551.
doi
:
10.14422/pen.v75.i283.y2019.031
.
S2CID
171734089
.
- ^
"????? ????? ???? ????.. ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ???????"
.
www.aljazeera.net
(in Arabic)
. Retrieved
2021-08-21
.
References
[
edit
]
- P. Bronnle,
The Awakening of the Soul
(London, 1905)
- Samar Attar,
The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought
(Lanham, 2010)
- Ben-Zaken, Avner, "Taming the Mystic", in Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).
ISBN
978-0801897399
.
- Mahmud Baroud,
The Shipwrecked Sailor in Arabic and Western Literature: Ibn Tufayl and His Influence on European
(London, 2012)
External links
[
edit
]
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