Wikipedia

Ibn Tufayl

Ibn Ṭufayl(fullArabic name:أبو بكر محمد بن عبد الملك بن محمد بن طفيل القيسي الأندلسيʾAbū Bakr Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Malik bin Muḥammad bin Ṭufayl al-Qaysiyy al-ʾAndalusiyy;Latinizedform:Abubacer Aben Tofail;Anglicizedform:AbubekarorAbu Jaafar Ebn Tophail;c. 1105– 1185) was anArabAndalusianMuslimpolymath:awriter,Islamic philosopher,Islamic theologian,physician,astronomer,andvizier.[1]

Ibn Tufayl
Imaginary sketch representing Ibn Tufayl (1961)
TitleIbn Tufayl
Abubacer Aben Tofail
Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail
Avetophail
Personal
Born1105
Guadix,Andalusia,Almoravid dynasty
Died1185 (aged 79–80)
Marrakesh,Almohad Caliphate
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionAl-Andalus
CreedAvicennism
Main interest(s)Early Islamic philosophy,literature,kalam,Islamic medicine
Notable idea(s)Wrote the firstphilosophical novel,which was also the firstnovelto depictdesert island,feral childandcoming of ageplots, and introduced the concepts ofautodidacticismandtabula rasa
Notable work(s)Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
(Philosophus Autodidactus)
OccupationMuslim scholar
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced

As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the firstphilosophical novel,Hayy ibn Yaqdhan(The Living Son of the Vigilant),considered a major work of Arabic literature emerging fromAl-Andalus.[2]As a physician, he was an early supporter ofdissectionandautopsy,which was expressed in his novel.[3]

Life

edit

Born in Guadix, nearGranada,he was educated byIbn Bajjah(Avempace).[4]His family were from the ArabQays tribe.[5]He was a secretary for several leaders, including the rulers ofCeutaandTangier,in 1154.[6]He also served as a secretary for the ruler ofGranada,and later asvizierandphysicianforAbu Yaqub Yusuf,theAlmohadcaliph,[4]to whom he recommendedIbn Rushd(Averroës) as his own future successor in 1169.[7]Ibn Rushdlater reports this event and describes how Ibn Tufayl then inspired him to write his famousAristoteliancommentaries:

Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl summoned me one day and told me that he had heard theCommander of the Faithfulcomplaining 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 inMoroccoin 1185. The astronomerNur Ed-Din Al-Bitrujiwas 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 includeNur al-Din al-Bitruji,Abu ‘Abdallah Muhammad b. al-Abbar,Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi,Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari,andIbn 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 (Abū Saʿīd ʿUthmān, one of'Abd al-Mu'min's sons). Eventually, Ibn Tufayl moved to the service ofAbū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf,who was a prince at the time and later became the second Almohad caliph.[13]

Hayy ibn Yaqzan

edit
Main article:Hayy ibn Yaqdhan

Ibn Tufayl was the author ofḤayy bin Yaqẓān(Arabic:حي بن يقظان,lit. 'Alive, son of Awake'), also known asPhilosophus Autodidactusin Latin, a philosophicalromanceand allegorical novel inspired byAvicennismandSufism,and which tells the story of anautodidacticferal child,raised by agazelleand living alone on adesert island,who, without contact with other human beings, discovers ultimate truth through a systematic process ofreasonedinquiry.Hayy ultimately comes into contact with civilization and religion when he meets acastawaynamed Absal (Asāl in some translations). He determines that certain trappings ofreligion,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, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, Salamān, and Absāl were borrowed fromIbn Sina'stales.[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'sPhilosophus Autodidactuswas written as a response toal-Ghazali'sThe Incoherence of the Philosophers.In the 13th century,Ibn al-Nafislater wrote theAl-Risalah al-Kamiliyyah fil Siera al-Nabawiyyah(known asTheologus Autodidactusin the West) as a response to Ibn Tufayl'sPhilosophus Autodidactus.

Hayy ibn Yaqdhanhad a significant influence on bothArabic literatureandEuropean literature,[15]and it went on to become an influential best-seller throughoutWestern Europein the 17th and 18th centuries.[16][17]The work also had a "profound influence" on bothclassical Islamic philosophyandmodernWestern philosophy.[18]It became "one of the most important books that heralded theScientific Revolution"andEuropean Enlightenment,and the thoughts expressed in the novel can be found "in different variations and to different degrees in the books ofThomas Hobbes,John Locke,Isaac Newton,andImmanuel Kant."[19]

ALatintranslation of the work, entitledPhilosophus Autodidactus,first appeared in 1671, prepared byEdward Pocockethe Younger. The first English translation (bySimon Ockley) was published in 1708. These translations later may have inspiredDaniel Defoeto writeRobinson Crusoe,which also featured adesert islandnarrative.[20][21][22]The novel is also thought to have inspired the concept of "tabula rasa"developed byJohn Locke,inAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding(1690).[23]Locke's concept of "tabula rasa"refers to a state in which an infant is as formless as a blank slate.[24]"Locke'sEssaywent on to become one of the principal sources ofempiricismin modern Western philosophy, and influenced many enlightenmentphilosophers,such asDavid HumeandGeorge Berkeley.Hayy's ideas onmaterialismin the novel also have some similarities toKarl Marx'shistorical materialism.[25]It also foreshadowedMolyneux's Problem,proposed byWilliam Molyneuxto Locke, who included it in the second book ofAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding.[26][27] Other European writers influenced byPhilosophus AutodidactusincludedGottfried Leibniz,[15]Melchisédech Thévenot,John Wallis,Christiaan Huygens,[28]George Keith,Robert Barclay,theQuakers,[29]Samuel Hartlib,[30]andVoltaire.[31]In more recent readings,Nadia Maftounihas coined the termSciartfor intertwined artistic and scientific activities and has described Ibn Tufayl'sHayy ibn Yaqzanas a leading instant which touches on issues likehuman anatomy,autopsy,andvivisectionwithin the confines of his novel.[32]

Works

edit
  • Raǧaz ṭawīl fī aṭ-Ṭibb(Arabic:رجز طويل في الطب,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 ArabicRajazmetre. It was only found recently in the capital ofMorocco,which isRabat.[9][33]
  • Arabic text ofHayy bin Yaqzanfrom Wikisource
  • Full pdf of French translation ofHayy bin Yaqzanfrom Google Books
  • English translations ofHayy 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 Yaqzān: 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).ISBN978-0801897399.

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^Avempace,Encyclopædia Britannica,2007.
  2. ^Stearns, Peter N. "Arabic Language and Literature." InThe Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World.Oxford University Press, 2008.
  3. ^Jon Mcginnis,Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources,p. 284,Hackett Publishing Company,ISBN0-87220-871-0.
  4. ^abThatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911)."Ibn Ṭufail".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 223.
  5. ^Carra de Vaux, B., "Ibn Ṭufayl", 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 2020http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3394
  6. ^"Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tufayl".Encyclopedia of World Biography.8:96. 2004 – via Gale eBooks.
  7. ^Avner Ben-Zaken, "Taming the Mystic", in Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).ISBN978-0801897399.
  8. ^SeyyedHossein NasrandOliver Leaman(1996),History of Islamic Philosophy,p. 314,Routledge,ISBN0-415-13159-6.
  9. ^abc"Ibn Tufayl, Abü Bakr Muhammad".Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography.13:488–489. 2008 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  10. ^abBožović, Mihajlo (2017)."The Process of Civilization in Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan".Kom (Beograd).2:77–90 – via ResearchGate.
  11. ^"Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on Judaic Thought".Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.10 December 2007.Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  12. ^Matar, Nabil (2013)."Ibn Tufayl (ca. 1105–85)".The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought:241–242 – via Gale eBooks.
  13. ^Fierro, Maribel (1 October 2020). "Ibn Ṭufayl's Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān: An Almohad Reading".Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations.31(4): 385–405.doi:10.1080/09596410.2020.1846448.hdl:10261/236766.S2CID230610974.
  14. ^abCorbin, Henry (2006)."Ibn Ṭufayl (d. 580 AH/1185 CE)".Encyclopedia of Philosophy.4:550–551 – via Gale eBooks.
  15. ^abMartin Wainwright,Desert island scripts,The Guardian,22 March 2003.
  16. ^Avner Ben-Zaken, Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).ISBN978-0801897399.
  17. ^G. A. Russell (1994),The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England,p. 228,Brill Publishers,ISBN978-90-04-09888-6.
  18. ^G. J. Toomer(1996),Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England,p. 218,Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-820291-1.
  19. ^Samar Attar,The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought,Lexington Books,ISBN0-7391-1989-3.
  20. ^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.
  21. ^Cyril Glasse (2001),NewEncyclopedia of Islam,p. 202, Rowman Altamira,ISBN0-7591-0190-6.
  22. ^Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists",Journal of Religion and Health43(4): 357–377 [369].
  23. ^G. A. Russell (1994),The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England,pp. 224–239,Brill Publishers,ISBN978-90-04-09888-6.
  24. ^Duschinsky, Robert (October 2012)."Tabula Rasa and Human Nature".Philosophy.87(4): 509–529.doi:10.1017/S0031819112000393.ISSN0031-8191.
  25. ^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 Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān,pp. 38–46,Brill Publishers,ISBN90-04-09300-1.
  26. ^"Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik Ibn Tufayl and Léon Gauthier (1981),Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan,p. 5, Editions de la Méditerranée ".19 April 2007.

    "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 thesenseshe 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; thecolorsalone 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. "
  27. ^Diana Lobel (2006),A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Baḥya Ibn Paqūda's Duties of the Heart,p. 24,University of Pennsylvania Press,ISBN0-8122-3953-9.
  28. ^G. A. Russell (1994),The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England,p. 227,Brill Publishers,ISBN978-90-04-09888-6.
  29. ^G. A. Russell (1994),The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England,p. 247,Brill Publishers,ISBN978-90-04-09888-6.
  30. ^G. J. Toomer(1996),Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England,p. 222,Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-820291-1.
  31. ^Tor Eigeland,The Ripening YearsArchived2008-03-01 at theWayback Machine,Saudi Aramco World,September–October 1976.
  32. ^Maftouni, Nadia (2019)."Concept of sciart in the Andalusian Ibn Tufail".Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica.75(283 S.Esp): 543–551.doi:10.14422/pen.v75.i283.y2019.031.S2CID171734089.
  33. ^"عندما كُـتب الطب شعرا.. أرجوزة ابن طفيل في وصف الأمراض وعلاجها".www.aljazeera.net(in Arabic).Retrieved2021-08-21.

References

edit
  • P. Brönnle,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).ISBN978-0801897399.
  • Mahmud Baroud,The Shipwrecked Sailor in Arabic and Western Literature: Ibn Tufayl and His Influence on European(London, 2012)
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ibn_Tufayl&oldid=1252579129"