Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (“Alive, Son of Awake”) is a 12th-century Arabic philosophical novel written by Ibn Tufail.
Ibn Tufail (1105–1185) was an Arab philosopher, physician, astronomer, and writer who belonged to the Arab Qays tribe.
The story follows Hayy, a boy who grows up alone on a remote tropical island, where he is cared for and raised by a deer. With no teachers, society, or human guidance, Hayy learns about the world entirely through his own observations and experiences.
At the heart of the novel is a profound question: How far can a human being relying only on reason, observation, and personal experience, discover the truth about nature, the soul, God, and existence without teachers, society, inherited beliefs, or revealed religion and will those discoveries ultimately lead to the same truths as divine revelation?
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan is widely regarded as one of the earliest and often the first philosophical novels in literary history.
The book became very popular in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries and influenced later European literature. It has also inspired later similar stories including Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book, and Tarzan.
