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
Now Hayy Ibn Yokdhan being wholly immersed in the speculation of those
things, and perfectly abstracted from all other objects, saw in the
highest sphere a Being devoid of any maker; it was like the image of the
sun which appears in a well-polished looking-glass. In the essence of
that separate sphere he saw such perfection, splendour, and beauty, as
is too great to be expressed by any tongue and too subtle to be clothed
in words. It was, as he perceived it, in the utmost perfections of
delight and joy, exaltation of gladness.
The next sphere to it--that of the fixed stars, had an immaterial
essence that was not the essence of that _True one_, nor the essence of
that highest, separated sphere, nor the sphere itself, but like the
image of the sun that is reflected upon a looking-glass from another
glass placed opposite to the sun; and in this essence he observed also
the like splendour, beauty, loveliness, and pleasure that he had
observed in the essence of the other highest sphere; the same splendour
and delight he saw also in other essences. In fact, in all the spheres
he observed immaterial distinct essences of the same kind; he saw such
beauty, splendour, pleasure, and joy as eye has not seen nor ear heard,
until he came to the lower world, subject to generation and corruption,
which comprehends all that is contained within the sphere of the moon.
This essence, immaterial like the rest, had seventy thousand faces, and
every face seventy thousand mouths, and every mouth seventy thousand
tongues, that sanctified and glorified incessantly that One, True Being.
Now, he perceived in his own essence, and in those other ones that were
in the same rank with him, infinite beauty, brightness, and light, such
as neither eye has seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into man's
heart, which none can describe nor understand, but those which have
attained thereto, and know it by experience.
But, on the other hand, he saw a great many other immaterial essences
that resembled rusty looking-glasses, covered over with filth, and
having their faces marked from those polished looking-glasses that had
the image of the sun imprinted upon them. These essences had so much
filthiness adhering to them, and such manifold defects, as he could not
have conceived. Besides they were afflicted with infinite pains, that
caused incessant sighs and groans; they were compassed with torments and
"scorched with the fiery veil of separation."
Then, when he came to consider the divine essences and heroic spirits,
he found them to be free from body and all its adherents, and removed
from them at the utmost distance, having no connection or dependence
upon them; their sole connection and dependence being that _One True
Necessary Self-existent Being_ who is the beginning and the cause of
their existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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