Ibn Ṭufayl’sḤayy ibn Yaqẓān: An Almohad Reading

Abstract

Ibn T  ufayl's (d. 581/1185) connection with Almohad rulers and involvement in the Almohad doctrinal and intellectual project has been addressed by Nemesio Morata and Lawrence Conrad, among others. Conrad argues that Ibn T  ufayl belonged to the newly created Almohad elites, the t alaba, the empire's doctrinarians. Morata analyses the famous passage where Ibn T  ufayl presents Ibn Rushd al-H  afīd (Averroes) to the then prince Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsufwho would become the second Almohad caliph (r. 558/1163-580/ 1184)when the young philosopher was commissioned to write his commentaries on Aristotle. Ibn T  ufayl's Risālat H  ayy b. Yaqz ān has, however, rarely been analysed in the Almohad context in which it was written, despite being one of the earliest works written under Almohad rule. Here I propose precisely such a reading of the text, showing Sufism, philosophy and politics as inextricably linked. This proposal, with its specific identification of the two main characters of the Risāla, H  ayy and Absāl, considers the needs that the new polity had at the time to develop a post-Messianic orientation that would preserve the loyalty of the first followers (Berber-speaking tribesmen from the Maghrib), while attracting the urbanized Andalusis and, more importantly, their scholarly elites.