Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān - Ibn Ṭufail


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The 12th-century philosophical novel, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (aka The Improvement of Human Reason, but literally, "Alive, Son of Awake"), is one of the most translated works in the Arabic language, third only to the Quran and the Arabian Nights.
The original title denotes the name of the book's central character, a boy born in island seclusion far from civilization--with no language, no sense of history, no teachers, and no role models--apart from that of the wild animals around him.
Nevertheless, by exercising his unique faculties, Ḥayy begins to distinguish his humanity. His curiosity leads him to develop methods of reasoning and experimentation as he inquires into the world, God, and even being itself. Uninfluenced by any customs, religions, or institutions, he begins to undergo a spiritual enlightenment and live his life as if guided by sacred scripture.
Tufayl's thought experiment was a formative influence on the 19th century cult of the "noble savage," leaving a wide mark on everything from Robinson Crusoe to Quakerism. It implores us to consider if the corrupting influence of society prevents us from being what we were each meant to be, raising fundamental questions about the nature of life, the world, and God, and aiming to demonstrate "by the mere light of nature... knowledge of things natural and supernatural."
The Improvement of Human Reason:
Extracts:
- "Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery." (Moby-Dick, 57)
- "Hypothesize: / If be a people which began / Without impediment, or let / From any ruling which fore-ran; / Even striving all things to forget / But this—the excellence of man / Left to himself, his natural bent, / His own devices and intent; / And if, in satire of the heaven, / A world, a new world have been given / For stage whereon to deploy the event; / If such a people be—well, well, / One hears the kettle-drums of hell!" (Clarel, 4.21)
- "He visited the dervishes, / The dancing ones: “But what think ye? / The captain-dervish vowed to me / That those same cheeses, whirl-round-rings / He made, were David’s—yes, the king’s / Who danced before the Ark. / But, look: This was the step King David took;” / And cut fantastic pigeon-wings." (Clarel, 3.27)
This meetup is part of a series on The Crescent and the Cross.

Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān - Ibn Ṭufail