The Awakening of the Soul

On an island, Hayy Ibn Yokdhan studies the living creatures around him and turns his attention to the movements of the stars. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik Ibn Tufayl uses this solitary observer to explore how a human mind can arrive at knowledge through experience and reflection. The story links practical discoveries with questions about the heavens, the origin of the world and the soul. This English selection was rendered from Arabic by Paul Brönnle, who supplies an introduction explaining its philosophical purpose.

Hayy reasons from what he can see, comparing the parts of the world to the parts of a living animal. When he considers whether the world had a beginning or has always existed, competing arguments leave him with doubts. Readers interested in Islamic philosophy can follow an inquiry that develops through a character's observations, with the natural world providing the starting point for larger questions about existence.