Adventure of Philosophical and Natural Religious Experience of Hayy b. Yaqdhan as a Member of the Ishraqi School

Abstract

In this article, we dealt with the religious experience and nature expressed in the work of Ibn Tufayl, who is an important thinker of the Ishraqi philosophy, titled Hayy b. Yaqdhan. In order to provide foundations for the subject matter, first of all we attempted to determine what we understand from religious experience and what its types are. Afterwards, we determined what the philosophical and theological background of Ibn Tufayl is. Here Avicenna plays the key role. However, the ideas of Suhrawardi have a significant role, as well. One of the most significant sources of Ibn Tufayl is undoubtedly al-Ghazali, but since the subject of religious experience in the tradition of Islamic Sufism has been handled in different studies, we did not include al-Ghazali's thoughts. In conclusion, Ibn Tufayl adopts as his subject matter a philosophical religious experience over natural theology.