The Awakening of the SoulIbn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
ReligionIslamic
The Awakening of the Soul
Ibn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
Islamic philosophy -- Early works to 1800; Philosophy, Arab -- Early works to 1800
So if we can find out anything which has an unlimited perfection,
infinite beauty, brightness and splendour, that does not proceed from
it, then he who is deprived of the sight and knowledge of that thing,
after having once known it, must necessarily suffer inexpressible
anguish, so long as he remains destitute thereof; whereas he that has it
continually present before him, must needs enjoy uninterrupted delight,
perpetual felicity, boundless joy and gladness.
HAYY RETURNS TO THE SENSIBLE WORLD.
As to the end of his story, I will tell you all about it, with the help
of God.
When _Hayy_ returned to the Sensible World, after his digression into
the Divine World, he began to loathe the burden and troubles of this
mortal life on earth, and to be filled with a most earnest and
passionate desire of the life to come; and he strove to return to the
same state in the same way as at first, until he attained thereto with
less labour than he had done formerly. And he continued in it the second
time longer than at the first.
Then he returned to the Sensible World; and then again he sought to
re-enter into that state of speculation, and found it easier than the
first and second time, and continued therein much longer.
In this way it grew easier and easier unto him, and his remaining
therein became longer and longer, until at last he could attain it
whenever he desired, and remain therein as long as he pleased, except
when the necessity of his body required it. Those necessities, however,
he had restrained within so narrow a compass that a narrower could
hardly be imagined.
And, while in this state he often wished that God, the Almighty and
Glorious, would altogether detach him from this body of his that called
him away from that place, so that he might wholly and continually give
himself up to his delight, and might be freed from all that pain and
grief with which he was afflicted, as often as he was forced to turn his
mind from that state to attend on his bodily necessities.
SEVENTH SEPTENARY.
_Asal and Salaman appear on the Scene._
Thus he continued in this state until he had passed the _seventh
septenary_ of his age, that is, until he was fifty years of age. Then it
happened that he made the acquaintance of Asal. And the account of this
meeting with him we shall now relate, with the help of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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