Ibn Ṭufayl
Ibn Ṭufayl (born 1109/10, Guádix, Spain—died 1185/86, Marrakech, Morocco) was a Moorish philosopher and physician who is known for his Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (c. 1175; Eng. trans. by L.E. Goodman, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓan by Ibn Ṭufayl, 1972), a philosophical romance in which he describes the self-education and gradual philosophical development of a man who passes the first 50 years of his life in complete isolation on an uninhabited island. Ibn Ṭufayl also wrote a number of medical treatises in Arabic verse.
- In full:
- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭufayl al-Qaysī
- Also called:
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭufayl al-Qaysī
- Latin:
- Abubacer
- Born:
- 1109/10, Guádix, Spain
Ibn Ṭufayl was influenced by the works of Avicenna and Avempace, the latter of whom was instrumental in introducing the Islamic philosophical tradition to Spain, and was a contemporary of Averroës. He served as the court physician and general adviser to the Almohad ruler Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf from 1163 to 1184.