Theologus Autodidactus
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''Theologus Autodidactus'' (English: "The Self-taught Theologian") is an Arabic novel written by
Ibn al-Nafis ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥazm al-Qarashī (Arabic: علاء الدين أبو الحسن عليّ بن أبي حزم القرشي ), known as Ibn al-Nafīs (Arabic: ابن النفيس), was an Arab polymath whose area ...
, originally titled ''The Treatise of Kāmil on the Prophet's Biography'' (), and also known as ''Risālat Fādil ibn Nātiq'' ("The Book of Fādil ibn Nātiq"). It was written sometime between 1268 and 1277 and is considered one of the earliest examples of a novel in
Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...
. The novel contains elements of
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
and is an early example of a
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
tale and a
desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
story. It was partly a response to the philosophical novel '' Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'' by Andalusi writer
Ibn Tufail Ibn Ṭufayl ( – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, and vizier. As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first philosophical nov ...
.Muhsin Mahdi (1974), "''The Theologus Autodidactus of Ibn at-Nafis'' by Max Meyerhof, Joseph Schacht", ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 94 (2), p. 232-234.


Plot

The protagonist of the story is Kamil, an autodidactic adolescent
feral child A feral child (also called wild child) is a young individual who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, with little or no experience of human care, social behavior, or language. Such children lack the basics of primary and ...
who is spontaneously generated in a cave and living in seclusion on a desert island. He eventually comes into contact with the outside world after the arrival of castaways who are shipwrecked and stranded on the island, and later take him back to the civilized world with them. The plot gradually develops into a coming-of-age story and then incorporates science fiction elements when it reaches its climax with a catastrophic doomsday apocalypse.


Themes

Ibn al-Nafis uses the plot to express many of his own religious, philosophical and scientific themes on a wide variety of subjects, including
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
,
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
,
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...
,
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
,
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
ation,
futurology Futures studies, futures research or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and wor ...
,
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
,
Islamic eschatology Islamic eschatology includes the afterlife, apocalyptic signs of the End Times, and final Judgement. It is fundamental to Islam as life after death is one of the six Doctrines of Islam. Resurrection is divided into Lesser Resurrection (''al-q ...
,
natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
, the
philosophy of history Philosophy of history is the philosophy, philosophical study of history and its academic discipline, discipline. The term was coined by the French philosopher Voltaire. In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between the ''specul ...
and
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, the
philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...
,
physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
,
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
, and
teleology Teleology (from , and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology. In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...
. Ibn al-Nafis was thus an early pioneer of the
philosophical novel Philosophical fiction is any fiction that devotes a significant portion of its content to the sort of questions addressed by philosophy. It might explore any facet of the human condition, including the function and role of society, the nature and ...
. Through the story of Kamil, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to establish that the human mind is capable of deducing the natural, philosophical and religious truths of the universe through reasoning and logical thinking. The "truths" presented in the story include the necessary existence of a god, the life and teachings of the
prophets of Islam Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit Revelatio ...
, and an analysis of the past, present, and future, including the origins of the human species and a general prediction of the future on the basis of
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...
and historical
determinism Determinism is the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...
. The final two chapters of the story resemble a science fiction plot, where the end of the world, doomsday,
resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...
and
afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
are predicted and scientifically explained using his own
empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...
knowledge of biology, astronomy, cosmology and geology. One of the main purposes behind ''Theologus Autodidactus'' was to explain Islamic religious teachings in terms of science and philosophy through the use of a fictional narrative. Hence, this was an attempt at reconciling reason with revelation and blurring the line between the two. Ibn al-Nafis described the book as a defense of "the system of Islam and the Muslims' doctrines on the missions of Prophets, the religious laws, the resurrection of the body, and the transitoriness of the world". He presents rational arguments for bodily
resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...
and the
immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...
of the human
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
, using both demonstrative reasoning and material from the hadith corpus to prove his case. The novel also includes references to his new physiology and his theories of
pulmonary circulation The pulmonary circulation is a division of the circulatory system in all vertebrates. The circuit begins with deoxygenated blood returned from the body to the right atrium of the heart where it is pumped out from the right ventricle to the lun ...
and pulsation, which he uses to justify bodily resurrection. Some have thus argued that it was his attempts at proving bodily resurrection that led him to his discovery of the pulmonary circulation. Later Islamic scholars viewed this work as a response to
Avicenna Ibn Sina ( – 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna ( ), was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian peoples, Iranian ...
's metaphysical claim that bodily resurrection cannot be proven through reason, a view that was earlier criticized by
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
. The plot of ''Theologus Autodidactus'' was intended to be a response to
Ibn Tufail Ibn Ṭufayl ( – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, and vizier. As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first philosophical nov ...
(Abubacer), who wrote the first Arabic novel '' Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'' (''Philosophus Autodidactus'') which was itself a response to
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
's ''
The Incoherence of the Philosophers ''The Incoherence of the Philosophers'' () is a landmark 11th-century work by the Muslim polymath al-Ghazali and a student of the Asharite school of Islamic theology criticizing the Avicennian school of early Islamic philosophy. Muslim philoso ...
''. Ibn al-Nafis thus wrote the narrative of ''Theologus Autodidactus'' as a rebuttal of Abubacer's arguments in ''Philosophus Autodidactus''. Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in ''Philosophus Autodidactus'' and Kamil in ''Theologus Autodidactus'') who were autodidactic individuals spontaneously generated in a cave and living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on a desert island for the rest of the story in ''Philosophus Autodidactus'', the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in ''Theologus Autodidactus'', developing into a coming-of-age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel. The purpose behind this changing story structure in ''Theologus Autodidactus'' was to refute Abubacer's argument that
autodidacticism Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...
can lead to the same religious truths as
revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
, whereas Ibn al-Nafis believed that religious truths can only be attained through revelation, which is represented through Kamil's interactions with other humans.


Biomedical portions

''Theologus Autodidactus'' also contains some passages that are of significance to
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
, particularly
physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
and
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
, such as the following statement: This is seen as the first example of the concept of
metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...
, which comprises
catabolism Catabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that breaks down molecules into smaller units that are either oxidized to release energy or used in other anabolic reactions. Catabolism breaks down large molecules (such as polysaccharides, lipid ...
, where living matter is broken down into simple substances, and
anabolism Anabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that construct macromolecules like DNA or RNA from smaller units. These reactions require energy, known also as an Endergonic reaction, endergonic process. Anabolism is the building-up aspect of metabo ...
, where food builds up into living matter. ''Theologus Autodidactus'' also criticizes the idea of wine being used as self-medication, an idea believed by Ancient Greek physicians as well as some unorthodox Muslim physicians in his time, despite the Islamic cultural though not Koranic prohibition of alcohol. The novel further argues that the consumption of alcohol, along with the prevalence of homosexuality among a small minority of Muslims at the time, were the cause of the Mongol invasions into Islamic lands as a divine punishment. The novel also contains a reference to the pulmonary circulation which Ibn al-Nafis had previously described in his ''Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon'', which is briefly described by the character Kamil when he observes the heart: Another passage has a reference to Ibn al-Nafis' theory of pulsation: Ibn al-Nafis makes use of his new systems of anatomy, physiology and psychology which he had developed in his previous works in order to defend his views on bodily resurrection in ''Theologus Autodidactus''. This may have been one of the reasons that initially motivated his discovery of the pulmonary circulation.


References

{{Reflist, colwidth=40em, refs= Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi (1982), "Ibn Al-Nafis as a philosopher", ''Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis'', Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (
cf. The abbreviation cf. (short for either Latin or , both meaning 'compare') is generally used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. However some sources offer differing or even contr ...
br>Ibn al-Nafis As a Philosopher
''Encyclopedia of Islamic World'

{{Cite journal , last=Fancy , first=Nahyan A. G. , year=2006 , title=Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288) , journal=Electronic Theses and Dissertations , publisher=
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
, url=http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615


External links


English Text of Theologus Autodidactus
Medieval Arabic literature Arabic-language novels 13th-century novels 13th-century Arabic-language books Science fiction novels Treatises