In Arab heritage, there are four works that have dealt with the story of Hayy bin-Yaqzān authored by al-Shaikh al-Ra’īs Abū ‘Aliy bin-Sinā; the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Tufīl; Ibn al-Nafīs (entitled Fādil bin-Nātiq); and Šihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardiy (entitled Risālat al-Ghurba al-Gharbiyya). The four texts represent successive episodes of literary and philosophical creativity, which have extended throughout the history of Islamic civilization. It is worth noting that the four treatments cover, in addition to the Sufi aspect, many features of Arabic sciences such as the theory of evolution in both the accounts of Ibn Tufīl and Ibn al-Nafīs and the discovery of blood’s circulatory system in the latter’s. The first part of the book includes a study of the four innovators who rewrote the story with the most ample and comprehensive biography of each. The second part displays the four authenticated texts with explanatory commentaries.

Number of pages: 295.   

First edition: General Organization of Culture Palaces, Philosophy and Science Book Series, 1997.
Second edition: Dar al-Amin, Cairo, 1997.
Third edition: Dar al-Shurouq, Cairo, 2008.