Ibn Tufail

Hayy Ibn Yaqdhan Ibn Tufail Arabic edition

Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan) is an Arabic philosophical novel and an allegorical tale written by Ibn Tufail in the early 12th century. The story revolves around ayy ibn Yaqan, a little boy who grew up on an island in the Indies under the equator, isolated from the people, in the bosom of an antelope that raised him and provided food for him from her milk. ayy has learned walking, imitating the sounds of antelopes, birds and other animals in his surrounding, learn the languages of the animals around him, and guiding himself to the actions of animals by imitating their instincts. He made his own shoes and clothes from the skins of the animal, studied the stars, till he gained a higher level of knowledge of the finest of astrologist. His continuous explorations and observation of creatures and environment led him gained great knowledge in natural science, philosophy and religion. He concluded that there is existence of a great creator, who created the universe. ayy ibn Yaqan lived a humble modest life as Sufi and forbade himself from eating meat. When ayy ibn Yaqan became thirty years old, he met the first human who landed on his isolated Island. By the age of forty-nine years, he was ready to teach other people about the knowledge he gained throughout his life.