Ibn Tufayl Living The Life Of Reason

The latest in the acclaimed Makers of the Muslim World series Series Editor Patricia Crone. Makers of the Muslim World is the first series devoted to the men and women throughout history who have made a significant contribution to the political intellectual and religious landscape of the Muslim world. Each title combines firstrate scholarship with a strong emphasis on readability and will serve as a perfect introduction for academic and lay readers alike. Ibn Tufayl 11051185 was an Andalusian courtier philosopher Sufi master and royal physician to the Almohad Caliphs. He inspired the twelfthcentury Andalusian revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy and through his sponsorship he was also responsible for the career of the most renowned Aristotelian of medieval times Abu alWalid Ibn Rushd the Latin Averroes. In Ibn Tufayl we see an exemplar of the kind of versatile and pious scholar early Almohad culture wanted to cultivate. Ibn Tufayl’s own intellectual outlook is preserved for us in Hayy Ibn Yaqzan a philosophical romance that is one of the most beloved and best read pieces in all Arabic literature. A popular and oftencopied work in early modern Europe Hayy has for many come to represent what is distinctive of high classical Arabic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl sets one of the most famous Arabic philosophical works of all time in its historical and philosophical context it paints a vivid portrait of the world as Ibn Tufayl saw it and as he wished for it to be seen.