Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale

Compare and contrast the two brothers: Absāl and Salāmān. How are they different or similar? How do each of them contribute to the text’s view of spirituality?

Analyze the role of animals in the narrative. How does Hayy treat animal life, and how does his perception of animals evolve over the course of the tale? How do these developments align with his personal and spiritual development?

Through the narrative, Ibn Tufayl occasionally includes interjections in an authorial voice to directly address the doubts and questions that he imagines his audience might have. What is the impact of these interjections, and how does Ibn Tufayl attempt to rhetorically justify his reasoning in them?

How does the genre of allegory help Ibn Tufayl communicate his philosophy more effectively than a more straightforward didactic treatise? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his approach?

Ibn Tufayl served as a physician as well as a theologian throughout his career. What is the role of medicine and anatomical dissection in Hayy Ibn Yaqzān? What are the connections between medical and spiritual knowledge?

Analyze Hayy’s education throughout the philosophical tale. How does he progress toward spiritual perfection without the aid of prophecy or direct revelation from God?

What qualities does the text uphold as necessary for achieving ecstasy? What personal virtues does Hayy possess that allow him to access this state?

If we read the text as an allegory not only for the development of a soul toward salvation but also for the development of human society from primitive to enlightened, what does Ibn Tufayl seem to suggest about how an advanced Islamic society should function?