{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34572/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34572","id":"gutenberg_34572","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34572","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Islamic philosophy -- Early works to 1800","Philosophy, Arab -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Anne Grieve and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Wisdom of the East Series\n\nEDITED BY\n\nL. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nDr. S. A. KAPADIA\n\n\n\n\nTHE AWAKENING OF THE SOUL\n\n\n_Motto_--\n\n    \"'Twas what it was, 'tis not to be expressed.\n    Enquire no further, but conceive the best.\"\n\n                                          GHAZALI.\n\n\n\n\n    WISDOM OF THE EAST\n\n    THE AWAKENING\n    OF THE SOUL\n\n    RENDERED FROM THE ARABIC\n    WITH INTRODUCTION\n\n    BY DR. PAUL BR\u00d6NNLE\n\n    F.R.G.S., F.R.HIST.S., M.R.A.S., ETC.\n\n    [Illustration]\n\n    FOURTH IMPRESSION\n\n    LONDON\n\n    JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET\n\n    1910\n\n\n\n\n    PRINTED BY\n    HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,\n    LONDON AND AYLESBURY.\n\n\n\n\n    _To Her Excellency\n    THE COUNTESS OLGA \u00dcXK\u00dcLL-GYLLENBAND\n    Lady-in-Waiting to Her Majesty\n    The Queen of Wurtemberg\n    Respectfully dedicated\n    by\n    PAUL BR\u00d6NNLE_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                           _Page_\n\n  INTRODUCTION,                                                  9\n\n\n  Different Accounts of the Birth of Hayy Ibn Yokdhan,          29\n\n  Hayy Ibn Yokdhan, son of a Princess,                          30\n\n  Hayy is exposed by his Mother,                                30\n\n  Hayy is driven by the tide to another Island,                 31\n\n  Hayy is found by a Roe, which takes care of him,              31\n\n  Spontaneous Generation,                                       32\n\n  Hayy grows up nursed by the Roe,                              33\n\n  Hayy learns to imitate animals' voices,                       34\n\n  Hayy begins to take a careful view of things,                 34\n\n  Hayy observes the difference between the animals and himself, 35\n\n  Hayy as a boy of seven. He covers himself with leaves,        36\n\n  Hayy becomes aggressive, and attacks wild beasts,             36\n\n  Hayy covers himself with the skin of an Eagle,                37\n\n  Hayy spreads terror among the beasts,                         37\n\n  Hayy is grief-stricken at the death of the Roe,               38\n\n  Hayy takes an aversion to the dead body,                      38\n\n  Hayy buries the body of the Roe,                              39\n\n  Hayy observes divers kinds of living creatures and plants,    39\n\n  Hayy discovers Fire kindled by the friction of reeds,         40\n\n\n  THE THIRD SEPTENARY\n\n  Hayy makes himself clothes and shoes of the skins of animals, 42\n\n  Hayy learns to ride,                                          43\n\n  Hayy examines the nature of bodies,                           44\n\n  Hayy transfers his thoughts to the heavenly bodies,           46\n\n\n  THE FOURTH SEPTENARY\n\n  Hayy ponders over heaven and stars,                           47\n\n  Hayy finds that the body of heaven is finite,                 47\n\n  Hayy contemplates sun, moon, and stars,                       48\n\n  Hayy concludes that the heaven is of a spherical figure,      48\n\n  Hayy ponders over the creation of the world,                  50\n\n  Hayy concludes that the world must have a Creator without\n    bodily substance,                                           51\n\n  Hayy admires the work of the Creator,                         56\n\n\n  FIFTH SEPTENARY\n\n  Hayy is completely taken up with the contemplation of the\n    superior intellectual world,                                58\n\n  Hayy examines all his senses and faculties,                   58\n\n  HAYY RETURNS TO THE SENSIBLE WORLD                            63\n\n\n  SEVENTH SEPTENARY\n\n  Asal and Salaman appear on the scene,                         65\n\n  Nature and character of Asal and Salaman,                     66\n\n  Further differences of Asal and Salaman,                      66\n\n  Asal repairs to Hayy's Island,                                67\n\n  Hayy and Asal meet,                                           69\n\n  Hayy catches hold of Asal,                                    70\n\n  Hayy and Asal stroke one another,                             71\n\n  Hayy and Asal try to understand each other,                   71\n\n  Asal makes Hayy eat of his food,                              72\n\n  Hayy Ibn Yokdhan at last joins Asal at dinner, but repents\n    afterwards,                                                 72\n\n  Asal becomes Hayy's companion and teacher,                    73\n\n  Hayy enlightens Asal on his inner life,                       74\n\n  Asal tells Hayy of the Island from whence he had come,        75\n\n  Hayy observes that men are dull, stupid, and brutish,         78\n\n  Asal persuades Hayy to follow him to his Island,              79\n\n  Hayy and Asal return together to Asal's Island,               79\n\n  Hayy begins to teach and instruct Salaman's subjects,         80\n\n  Hayy despairs of being able to reform the vulgar crowd,       81\n\n  Hayy's philosophical views on the value of this world,        81\n\n  Hayy gives up his preachings and teachings,                   84\n\n  Asal and Hayy return to their Island,                         85\n\n  Epilogue of the Author,                                       86\n\n\n\n\nEDITORIAL NOTE\n\n\nThe object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one. They\ndesire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be\nthe ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and\nWest--the old world of Thought and the new of Action. In this endeavour,\nand in their own sphere, they are but followers of the highest example\nin the land. They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great\nideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of\nthat true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nations\nof another creed and colour.\n\n                                            L. CRANMER-BYNG.\n                                            S. A. KAPADIA.\n\n    THE NORTHBROOK SOCIETY,\n        21, CROMWELL ROAD,\n            KENSINGTON, S.W.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIt is to two English scholars, father and son, Edward Pococke, senior\nand junior, that the world is indebted for the knowledge of one of the\nmost charming productions Arabian philosophy can boast of.\n\nGenerally looked upon as a subject of repulsive aridity, in its strange\ncombination of the most heterogeneous philosophical systems, devoid of\nthe grace and charm of attractive style, unbrightened by brilliancy of\nwit or spirit, Arabian philosophy has, for centuries past, been subject\nto sad and undeserved neglect.\n\nYet I cannot imagine a better and more eloquent refutation of this\nerroneous view than a rendering, in fresh garb, of this romance of Hayy\nIbn Yokdhan, simple and ingenuous, yet fragrant with poetry and withal\nfraught with deep philosophical problems the interest in which I wish to\nrevive.\n\nIt was in the year 1671 that there was published by the Oxford\nUniversity Press, as one of its first issues of Arabic texts, a book\ncalled, \"Philosophus autodidactus,\" edited by Edward Pococke the son,\ntogether with a Latin translation. It had a preface that bore the\nsignature of Edward Pococke, the father, and this fact alone was\nsufficient to stamp it at once as a work in which vast erudition and\nthoroughness of investigation had joined hands--for both these _savants_\nwere men of wide reputation and brilliant attainments.\n\nEngland, that has put students of Oriental lore under such large\nobligations, has never given to the world a greater Arabic scholar than\nEdward Pococke, \"the Glory and Ornament of his Age and Nation,\" the\nfamous author of the \"Specimen histori\u00e6 Arabum\";[1] a veritable\nstore-house of historical, scientific, literary, and religious\ninformation, and the equally famous editor of the annals of Eutychius\nand of the history of Dynasties by Abul faradj.\n\n    [1] This book, by the way, was the first book in Arabic type\n    which issued from the Oxford University Press, just as his\n    \"Porta Mosis,\" containing the six Prefatory Discourses of\n    Maimonides on the Mishna, was the first Hebrew text (in fact\n    Arabic with Hebrew characters) printed at Oxford.\n\nIn the splendid array of famous Arabic scholars the last century has\nproduced there are only two in England that rank with Edward Pococke on\nthe same level--two men whose names stand out in bold relief, namely,\nEdward William Lane, prince among lexicographers, and William Wright,\nthe brilliant exponent of the theories of the native Arabic grammarians.\n\nThe co-operation of Edward Pococke, the father, in the edition of this\nbook, \"Philosophus autodidactus,\" was indeed the best recommendation.\nTo Edward Pococke, the father, is due the honour of having discovered\nand unearthed this priceless gem of Arabic philosophical literature,\nwhilst the son, \"the worthy son of so great a father,\" undertook the\ntask, by no means an easy one, of editing the Arabic text and furnishing\nit with a Latin translation.[2] This Latin translation was undoubtedly\nfor that time a praiseworthy performance; yet, considering the enormous\nstrides Oriental science has made during the last centuries, and with\nall the new material at hand, we are to-day able to put the philological\ngroundwork on a more solid basis.\n\n    [2] The value of the book was quickly recognised. In a\n    comparatively short time it quite caught the fancy of the\n    public--in fact it took the world by storm, and for a long time\n    it remained greatly in vogue.\n\nIn casting about for the work of an Arabian philosopher for the \"Wisdom\nof the East\" Series, I could not think of anything more engaging, more\ncaptivating, than this simple romance.\n\nUnfortunately, for reasons of space, I could not give a translation in\nfull, but I have given the most interesting parts. On the passages,\nhowever, which I had to leave out, I have dwelt at greater length in\nthis Introduction. In the translation I have tried to preserve the\n_cachet_, the archaic flavour and spirit of the book.\n\nThe idea underlying the story is, as Ockley puts it, to show how human\ncapacity may, unassisted by any external help, attain to the knowledge\nof the higher world, and so by degrees find out its dependence upon a\nsuperior Being, the immortality of the soul, and other questions of the\nhighest importance. In short, it describes the gradual awakening of the\nsoul, the evolution of an original mind from its first groping in the\ndark to the most dazzling heights of philosophical speculation.\n\nThe great charm of the book lies in its simplicity and ingenuousness; in\nits entire freedom from affectation of style; in the transparent\nlucidity of its exposition, which is in pleasant contrast with the\nponderous works of other philosophical writers amongst the Arabs.\n\nYet with all its ingenuousness, what sustained power of thought, what\ndepth of philosophical penetration!\n\nHayy Ibn Yokdhan--this prototype of Robinson Crusoe--truly a pathetic,\nyet inspiring figure!\n\nThe simple setting of a man, living a solitary life on an Island,\nentirely given up to meditation and introspection, is used by our author\nas an arena for the display of his philosophical views, which, in\nkaleidoscopic transformation, cover the whole range of wisdom of those\ntimes--astronomical, geographical, cosmographic, physiological,--and so\non, the whole picture touched with the wand of the master.\n\nThe author of the story, Ibn Tufail, though he is generally not reckoned\namong the most prominent in that brilliant array of Arabian philosophers\nfor whom Spain became the rallying-point in the eleventh and twelfth\ncenturies, yet his name will outlive centuries. For the romance which he\nhas given to the world is a work of everlasting beauty, of immortal\nfreshness; one that will never grow stale in the flight of ages.\n\nLittle is known of his private life, which seems to have passed by as\nuneventful as that of many of the philosophers and scientists of those\nages.\n\nHe was born at Guadix, a little town of Andalusia. After having finished\nhis education, he became a secretary at Granada, and later on we find\nhim as Vezir and Physician to Abu Yakub, one of the first\nrepresentatives of the dynasty of the Almohades. He died in Morocco, in\n1185, leaving, besides his story of Hayy Ibn Yokdhan, only a few poems\nof insignificant value; whilst his principal work, the Self-taught\nPhilosopher, has secured for him immortality.\n\nIn the following pages I will endeavour to give a short _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ of this\nstory, though I am painfully aware of the fact that such an analysis can\nscarcely do justice to the beauty of the language nor to the wealth of\nphilosophical thought and speculation represented therein.\n\nFrom the outset the atmosphere is created with broad and happy touches.\n\nOn an Island in the Indian Ocean, famous for its health-giving\natmosphere, abounding in fruits and inhabitants, Hayy Ibn Yokdhan comes\ninto this world, as the son of a Princess, who is compelled to expose\nthe child soon after his birth. The tide carries him to another Island,\nwhere he is found by a roe, that takes pity on him, nurses him like a\nmother, and watches over his every movement with tender affection.\n\nUnder her care he quickly develops into a fine strapping boy who is not\nafraid to venture a passage with wild beasts that dare to oppose him.\n\nAfter the death of the roe, at which he is grief-stricken, he is wholly\nthrown on his own resources. Yet he knows how to look after himself. He\ncovers himself with leaves of trees, and finds out other ways to keep\nhimself warm and protected.\n\nAs the repairing of the coverings of leaves was very troublesome, he had\na design of taking the tail of some dead beast and wearing it himself;\nbut when he perceived that all beasts avoided those which were dead of\nthe same kind, it made him doubt whether it was safe or not. At last, by\nchance he found a dead eagle, and observing that none of the beasts\nshowed any aversion to that carcase, he concluded that this would suit\nhis purpose, and so he cuts off the wings, the tail, and spreads the\nfeathers open: then he draws off the skin and divides it into two equal\nparts, one of which he wears upon his back; with the other he covers his\nbreast: the tail he wore behind and the wings were placed upon each arm.\n\nThis dress answered different ends: for in the first place it covered\nhis nakedness, helped to keep him warm, and then it made him so\nfrightful to the beasts that none of them cared to meddle with him or\ncome near him.\n\nAfter awhile he began to make experiments with the body of the roe,\nanxious to find out its composition.\n\nHe noticed, when he shut his eyes or held anything before him, he could\nsee nothing at all till this obstacle was removed; and so, when he put\nhis fingers in his ears that he could not hear till he took them out\nagain. From which he concluded that all his senses and actions were\nliable to obstacles and impediments, upon the removal of which the same\nfunctions returned to their former course.\n\nNow, when he found no visible defect in the external parts of the body\nof the roe, and yet at the same time perceived a universal cessation of\nits motions, he began to imagine that the hurt from which the roe had\ndied was hidden in the inward part of the body.\n\nNow he had observed on the bodies of wild beasts and other animals that\nall their members were solid, and that there were only three cavities,\nviz. the skull, the breast, and belly. He imagined, therefore, that the\npart the nature of which he wanted to find out must be in one of these\ncavities, and he had a strong persuasion that it was in the middlemost\nof them.\n\nAnd having by this way of reasoning assured himself that the disaffected\npart lay in the breast, he resolved to open the breast of the roe; and,\nproviding himself with sharp flints and splinters of dry cane almost\nlike knives, he made an incision between the ribs, and, cutting through\nthe flesh, came to the _Diaphragm_.\n\nWhen he found this tough and not easily broken, he assured himself that\nsuch a covering must belong to that part for which he was looking out.\nAfter great efforts he succeeded in breaking through, and the first part\nhe met was the lungs; and at last he found the heart, which he saw\nclosed with a very strong cover and fastened with strong ligaments and\nguarded with a membrane.\n\nOn finding the same membrane on the inside of the ribs, and the lungs in\nthe same posture as on the other side which he had opened first, he\nconcluded the heart to be the part he looked for. When, however, he\nfound that the being which had dwelt there before, had left its house\nbefore it fell to ruin, and forsaken it, the whole body seemed to him an\ninconsiderable thing.\n\nThen his mind was perplexed with a variety of thoughts as to its\nsubstance and subsistence, the reason of its departure, etc. After much\ndeliberation, at last he found that from that part of the heart which\nhad departed proceeded all those actions by which the roe had shown her\ncare of him and her affection,--that the body was only as an instrument\nor tool, like his cudgel with which he used to fight with the wild\nbeasts. Thus all his regard for the body was over and transferred to\nthat by which the body is governed, and by whose power it moves. So he\ndecides in the end to bury the body.\n\nAfter its burial, the impression of his loneliness and of his dependence\nupon himself being deepened, he quickly develops his faculties. In a\nshort time he becomes an expert in different sports, as hunting and\nfishing. He makes himself clothes and shoes of the skins of wild beasts.\nBy the observations he made upon the swallows' nests, being taught the\nart of building, he builds with his hands a room for his own use, a\nstore-house, and a pantry. Then he contrives to make some wild horses so\ntractable that he can use them for riding, which is a great help to him\nin his expeditions and excursions.\n\nHis material existence thus once firmly established and secured, he\nbegins to indulge in his speculations on all sorts of bodies,--on the\ndifferent kinds of animals, plants, minerals and different sorts of\nstones, earth, water, exhalations and vapours, ice, snow, hail, smoke,\nfire, etc.\n\nBy the time he attains to the age of twenty-eight (fourth Septenary),\nhis mind starts to ponder over astronomical problems--over heaven and\nstars, sun and moon; and in the end comes to the conclusion that the\nbody of heaven is finite and is of a spherical figure.\n\nAt last his mind finds itself occupied with the great problem of\nCreation and Creator. With admirable skill the author delineates here\nthe gradual development of Hayy's reasonings on the Creator and Mover of\nthe world, and concludes with the panegyric words of the Koran: _He is\nthe Existence, He is the Absoluteness, He is the Perfection, He is the\nBeauty, He is the Glory, He is the Power, He is the Knowledge, He is He,\nand all Things perish beside Him._\n\nAll his thoughts were henceforward confined to the contemplation of this\nnecessarily self-existent Being. In order to do this, he removed all his\naffections from sensible things, shut his eyes, stopped his ears, and\nrefrained himself as much as possible from following his imagination,\nendeavouring to the utmost to think of nothing besides him.\n\nWhilst so, on the one side, the imagination and all the other faculties\nwhich make any use of the organs of the body grew weak; on the other\nside, the operations of his essence which did not depend upon the body\ngrew strong, so that sometimes his meditation was pure and free from any\nmixture, and he beheld thereby the necessarily self-existent Being; but\nthen again corporeal faculties would return upon him and spoil his\ncontemplation, and bring him down to the lowest degree.\n\nThus he continued, he opposing his corporeal faculties, and they\nopposing him, and mutually struggling one against another. Then, when he\nobserved that the negative attributes consisted in separation from\nbodily things, he began to strip himself of all bodily properties--to\nremove and reject all those things from himself, as being in no wise\nconsistent with that state which he was now in search of.\n\nThus he continued, confining himself to rest in the bottom of his cave,\nwith his head bowed down and his eyes shut, and turning himself\naltogether from all sensible things and the corporeal faculties, and\nturning all his thoughts and meditations upon the _necessarily\nself-existent Being_ without admitting anything else besides him: and if\nany other object presented itself to his imagination, he rejected it\nwith his utmost force, and persisted therein to that degree that\nsometimes he did neither eat nor stir for many days together.\n\nWhen he succeeded in preventing the admission of an extraneous object\ninto that contemplation, he endeavoured as it were to disappear from\nhimself--to detach himself entirely from his corporeal faculties, so as\nto be wholly taken up in the vision of that true Being.\n\nAnd, thereto when at last he attained both the heaven and the earth, all\nspiritual forms and corporeal faculties, and all those powers that are\nseparate from matter, all disappeared and vanished, and were as if they\nhad never been. And amongst these his own being disappeared too, till\nat last there remained nothing but this _One, True, Perpetually\nSelf-existent Being_, who spoke thus in that saying of his (the Koran):\nTo whom now belongs the Kingdom? To this One, the Almighty God.\n\nThus he deeply immersed himself into this state, and witnessed \"that\nwhich neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it ever entered\ninto the heart of man to conceive.\"\n\nWhen he came to himself from that state which was like drunkenness--he\nbegan to think that his own essence did not at all differ from the\nessence of that True Being, and that there was nothing in him but this\ntrue essence. It appeared to him that this True, Powerful, and Glorious\nBeing was not by any means capable of multiplicity, and that his\nknowledge of his essence was his very essence, from whence he argued\nthus: \"He that has the knowledge of this essence, has the essence\nitself, but I have the knowledge of this essence. Ergo, I have the\nessence itself.\"\n\nNow Hayy Ibn Yokdhan being wholly immersed in the speculation of those\nthings, and perfectly abstracted from all other objects, saw in the\nhighest sphere a Being devoid of any maker; it was like the image of the\nsun which appears in a well-polished looking-glass. In the essence of\nthat separate sphere he saw such perfection, splendour, and beauty, as\nis too great to be expressed by any tongue and too subtle to be clothed\nin words. It was, as he perceived it, in the utmost perfections of\ndelight and joy, exaltation of gladness.\n\nThe next sphere to it--that of the fixed stars, had an immaterial\nessence that was not the essence of that _True one_, nor the essence of\nthat highest, separated sphere, nor the sphere itself, but like the\nimage of the sun that is reflected upon a looking-glass from another\nglass placed opposite to the sun; and in this essence he observed also\nthe like splendour, beauty, loveliness, and pleasure that he had\nobserved in the essence of the other highest sphere; the same splendour\nand delight he saw also in other essences. In fact, in all the spheres\nhe observed immaterial distinct essences of the same kind; he saw such\nbeauty, splendour, pleasure, and joy as eye has not seen nor ear heard,\nuntil he came to the lower world, subject to generation and corruption,\nwhich comprehends all that is contained within the sphere of the moon.\n\nThis essence, immaterial like the rest, had seventy thousand faces, and\nevery face seventy thousand mouths, and every mouth seventy thousand\ntongues, that sanctified and glorified incessantly that One, True Being.\n\nNow, he perceived in his own essence, and in those other ones that were\nin the same rank with him, infinite beauty, brightness, and light, such\nas neither eye has seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into man's\nheart, which none can describe nor understand, but those which have\nattained thereto, and know it by experience.\n\nBut, on the other hand, he saw a great many other immaterial essences\nthat resembled rusty looking-glasses, covered over with filth, and\nhaving their faces marked from those polished looking-glasses that had\nthe image of the sun imprinted upon them. These essences had so much\nfilthiness adhering to them, and such manifold defects, as he could not\nhave conceived. Besides they were afflicted with infinite pains, that\ncaused incessant sighs and groans; they were compassed with torments and\n\"scorched with the fiery veil of separation.\"\n\nThen, when he came to consider the divine essences and heroic spirits,\nhe found them to be free from body and all its adherents, and removed\nfrom them at the utmost distance, having no connection or dependence\nupon them; their sole connection and dependence being that _One True\nNecessary Self-existent Being_ who is the beginning and the cause of\ntheir existence.\n\nNow, though the sensible world follows the divine world as a shadow does\nthe body, and the divine world stands in no need of it and is\nindependent of it; yet, it is absurd to suppose a possibility of its\nbeing annihilated, because it follows the divine world: but the\ncorruption of this world consists in its being changed, not annihilated.\nAnd that glorious book (the Koran) spoke, where is no mention made of\n\"moving the Mountains and making them like the world, and men like\nfire-flies, and darkening the Sun and Moon; and eruption of the Sea in\nthat day when the earth shall be changed into another earth and the\nheavens likewise.\"\n\nThis is the substance of what Hayy saw when in his glorious state of\necstasy.\n\nWhen _Hayy_, after his digression into the higher world, returned to the\nsensible world, he began to loathe the troubles of this mortal life on\nearth, and became very anxious to return to the same state he had been\nin before.--And by dint of continued exercise and strenuous endeavour he\nwas at last able to attain to that state whenever his desire drove him\nto do so. While in this state he wished that God might detach him\naltogether from his body and bodily desires and necessities, so that he\nmight give himself up for ever to his delight, and be freed from all\ngrief and pain.\n\nIn the meantime he had passed the _Seventh Septenary_, and had attained\nto the age of fifty. And then came suddenly the great metamorphosis in\nhis life, viz. his connection and acquaintanceship with another human\nbeing, called _Asal_.\n\nThis came about in the following way:\n\nNot very far from the Island where Hayy passed his days, there was\nanother Island to which had retired one of those pious sects which\nabounded then in that part of the world. Among its votaries were the\nmost zealous and devoted members, two men, named Asal and Salaman.\nThough both were constant in performing those ceremonies prescribed by\nthe law of this sect, they greatly differed in their character and in\ntheir propensities.\n\n_Asal_, being of a contemplative and meditative disposition, affected\nretirement from the world and a solitary life as the best means to\nattain to happiness and salvation. _Salaman_, on the other hand, with\nhis natural aversion to contemplation, and subtle inquiries into the\nhigher world of things, preferred conversation, human society, and\ncompany, as the best means to drive away evil thoughts. Though they were\nthe best of friends, this disparity in their views caused them in the\nend to separate.\n\n_Asal_, advised of the fertility and health-giving atmosphere of that\nIsland wherein _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ dwelled, decided to go thither. After\nhaving sold his goods, and having distributed part thereof among the\npoor, he hired a ship and was transported into Hayy's Island.\n\nAs _Hayy_, being wholly taken up in sublime speculations, scarcely ever\nstirred out of his cave, Asal did not at first light upon him. One day,\nhowever, when Hayy was stepping out of his cell to look out for some\nfood, he spied _Asal_--and the following episode forms one of the most\ncharming chapters of the story in its description of how Hayy brings\nAsal to book, and how they try to make themselves understood to one\nanother.\n\n_Hayy_, who is taken by _Asal_ to be one of those religious persons\ngiven to solitude, like himself, who had retired to that Island to give\nhimself up to contemplation and prayers, stands, on his part, in wonder\nand amazement at the appearance of _Asal_. He could not imagine what it\nwas. For of all the creatures he had ever beheld in his life, there was\nnone that in the least resembled him. And in the end he came to the\nconclusion that he must be one of the essences, that had the knowledge\nof the True One. He is anxious to get into closer contact with him; and\ntherefore, when he sees Asal making off with all might and in great\nhaste, he follows him, and, being endowed with great bodily vigour,\novertakes him, seizes him, and holds him fast so that he could not get\noff again.\n\nWhen _Asal_ looked upon him, and beheld him clothed with the skins of\nwild beasts, and his own hair so long that it covered part of his body,\nhe felt great fear of him and tried to pacify him by stroking him.\n_Hayy_, on the other hand, when he perceived those tokens of his fear,\nendeavoured to allay it with such vocal expressions as he had learned\nfrom some animals, and furthermore by stroking, with great gentleness,\nhis hand, his head, his neck, until he succeeded, by the expression of\ngreat kindness and joy, in allaying _Asal's_ fears.\n\nThen _Asal_, being a great expert in languages, began to question him\nconcerning his doings and ways of life in all the languages he was\nmaster of. But _Hayy_ did not understand anything of all that was said\nto him; and so they stood for a long time, wrapped up in wonder, looking\nat one another.\n\n_Asal_, however, did not lose hope that it should come to pass that he\nshould teach him languages, knowledge, and religion; and by dint of\npatience and application, he at last succeeded in teaching him the\nrudiments of language; and then he very quickly advanced him so far that\nhe could converse with him any length of time.\n\nThereupon, he began to question him about his past and about his manner\nof living, and _Hayy_ described to him the progress he had made in\nknowledge until he had attained to that degree of union with God, and\ntold him of those essences that are separated from the sensible world;\nand of that essence, the True One, the Almighty and Glorious, with all\nhis glorious attributes.\n\nWhen _Asal_ heard of all this, the eyes of his heart were opened and\nhis mind enlightened, and he realised that all those rules and precepts\nhe had been taught himself in his law, regarding the Almighty and\nGlorious God, his Angels and Books, his Messengers and the Day of\nJudgment, Paradise and Hell, were, in fact, resemblances of what Hayy\nhad seen, and that his religion and Hayy's philosophy were only two\ndifferent forms of the One Eternal Truth.\n\nNow, when _Hayy_ heard from _Asal_, in the course of their further\nconversations and discussions, of the sad state of the inner life which\nthe people on _Asal's_ Island lived in, he was greatly affected with\npity towards them, and a resolution entered into his mind of going over\nto them in the hope and desire to become an instrument in their\nsalvation. _Asal_ quickly fell in with this plan. So they took the first\nship that passed the shore of their Island and repaired to the opposite\nIsland.\n\nWhen they arrived there, _Asal's_ friends gathered round him, anxious to\nhear of his adventures; and when they heard his account of _Hayy Ibn\nYokdhan_, they flocked together from all sides, surrounding him with all\ntokens of reverence and admiration.\n\n_Hayy_ sets to work at once. He begins to explain to them the mysteries\nof wisdom, and to inculcate them with those precepts with which he was\nimbued. But as they were diametrically opposed to the notions deeply\nrooted in their minds, they began to withdraw themselves from him, and\nto loathe and abhor him; outwardly, however, in his presence, making a\ngreat show of kindness.\n\n_Hayy_ soon found out that it was hopeless to reform these people, whose\nonly God was their lusts and appetites, blinded and captivated as they\nwere by the trifles and vanities of this world, tossed up and down until\nthey tottered to their graves. He saw that God had sealed up their\nhearts and ears, a thick mist being before their eyes and sore\npunishment abiding them.\n\nWhen Hayy saw how things stood--that there was no salvation for this\nweak, tractable, and defective sort of men, he craved pardon for the\nthings he had spoken and desisted from further efforts in that\ndirection.\n\nGreatly disappointed at being unable to regenerate Salaman's subjects,\nhe bade him farewell and returned with Asal to his Island. There they\ncontinued to devote themselves to contemplation and the search after the\nEternal Truth, and did not cease worshipping God until death laid his\nhands upon them.\n\nThese are the outlines of the story of Hayy Ibn Yokdhan.\n\nBoth Myth and History are the parents of many of its most touching and\ntender motives.\n\nStranded, or rather exposed on an Island by his mother, a Princess--who\nis not reminded of the same motive in a biblical story?--nursed by a\nRoe--another favourite motive of semi-mythical periods.\n\nLater on, wholly left to his own resources, yet nothing daunted, by\nsheer pluck and energy he builds himself up a material existence, then\nby the sharpness of his wit, the originality and penetration of his\nthought, the incisiveness of his intuition, he rapidly builds up a\nspiritual structure of Nature, Heaven, and its Mover and Ruler, God,\nuntil, at the age of fifty, he has attained to that highest stage of\nSufic evolution, the Ecstasy, the complete immersion in, and absorption\nby, the One Essence, the True One, that Eternal Being: Ecstasy, the same\nstate which is so beautifully described by that famous Arabian\nphilosopher, Avicenna, when he says:--\"Then when a man's desires are\nraised to a high pitch, and he is sufficiently well exercised in that\nway, there will appear to him some small glimmerings of the Truth, as it\nwere flashes of lightning, very delightful, which just shine upon him\nand then go out. Then the more he exercises himself, the more often\nhe'll perceive them . . . till through frequent exercise he at last\nattains to a perfect tranquillity: and that which used to appear to him\nonly by fits and starts, becomes habitual; and that which was only a\nglimmering before, a constant light.\"\n\nTo detach and deliver the soul--if only for a few hours--from the\nwithering despotism of everyday life and strife, grey and monotonous\nwith its eternal round of toil, worry, and trouble; to bathe the soul in\nthe full sunshine of sublime wisdom, depicted and represented in this\nsimple romance, with its exquisite charm and captivating grace, clear as\ncrystal yet pregnant with ideas that have moved the world--this was the\nidea which guided me in embarking upon this work.\n\nIf I have succeeded in this task, even only in a small degree, by\nresuscitating this gem of Arabian philosophical literature--then I\nconsider myself richly repaid for the labour I have bestowed on this\nlittle book, which has, indeed, been a labour of love.\n\n                                                PAUL BR\u00d6NNLE.\n\n    _25th April 1904._\n\n\n\n\nTHE AWAKENING OF THE SOUL\n\nA PHILOSOPHICAL ROMANCE.\n\n\n\n\n_Different Accounts of the Birth of Hayy Ibn Yokdhan._\n\nOur good Forbears--may God be gracious unto them--report: there is an\nIsland amongst the Indian Islands (in the Indian Ocean), situated under\nthe Equinoctial, where men spring into being without father or mother.\nThere is also planted a tree that produces women, and they are those\nwhom al-Mas`udi calleth the Wakwak Damsels.\n\nThe Island is so blessed with the influence of light and sun as to be\nthe most temperate and perfect of places; an opinion, however, that does\nnot agree with that of the greatest philosophers and most famous\nphysicians, who hold that there is nothing more temperate in the world\nthan the fourth climate. According to them Hayy Ibn Yokdhan belonged to\nthe number of those that are born without father or mother. Others,\nhowever, relate the story in a different manner. They tell us:\n\n\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan, son of a Princess._\n\nNot far from this Island there lay another Island of great tract and\nlarge compass, abounding in fruits and well peopled. It was then\ngoverned by a Prince of haughty, fierce, and jealous disposition: he had\na sister, graced with matchless beauty. He kept her in close custody and\nwould not permit her to marry; for among her suitors there was not one\nhe declared worthy of her.\n\nYet in spite of his watchfulness, his near kinsman, named Yokdhan,\nsucceeded in winning her affections, and married her clandestinely\naccording to the rites commonly known in those times. And before long\nshe was with child and delivered of a son.\n\n\n_Hayy is exposed by his Mother._\n\nBeing in fear lest the matter should be discovered and her secret\ndisclosed, she put him into a little ark and closed it firmly after\nhaving suckled the babe. Accompanied by her most trusted servants, she\ncarried it to the seashore early in the night, her heart burning and\ndistracted with love and fear, and then (tenderly kissing him with\ntearful eyes) she took her last leave of him, sending up this prayer to\nGod:--\n\n\"O God! thou didst create this little child, when as yet it was nothing;\nthou didst cherish and nourish him while he lay confined within the dark\ncloset of my womb; thou didst take great care of him until he formed\ninto perfection and harmony. I, trembling before the haughty, unjust,\nand violent Prince, commend him unto thy goodness and pray that thou\nwho surpasseth all in mercy wilt be bountiful unto him. Be thou, I pray\nthee, a guide and assistance unto him; forsake him not, and never leave\nhim destitute of thy care.\"\n\n\n_Hayy is driven by the tide to another Island._\n\nWith these words she committed the little ark with the child into the\nsea, and the waters swelling with the tide carried it in the same night\nto the shore of another Island whereof we have just made mention.\n\nIt so happened that there was such a powerful current of the high\nwater--as it does happen there once a year--that the ark was carried\nright to the shore, and by its force cast into a shady grove, thick set\nwith trees,--a very pleasant place, well sheltered from wind and rain,\nand secured from the sun, which at its rising and setting receded from\nit.\n\nThen when the waters subsided, the ark wherein the infant peacefully\nslumbered was left stranded, banked up by sands, safely aground,\nsheltered from blustering wind or in-coming tide. For when the wind\nblew, the sands were heaped together and obstructed the passage to the\ngrove, and thus prevented the coming of any water into it so that the\nflood could not reach it.\n\n\n_Hayy is found by a Roe, which takes care of him._\n\nNow it came to pass that the nails of the ark and its joints became\nloosened by the violence of the waves. The child, feeling hungry, began\nto cry bitterly, seeking relief and moving about in the ark.\nFortunately it so happened that its cry was heard by a roe that was\nwandering about in search of her fawn, which, having ventured out of its\nden, had been carried off by an eagle.\n\nWhen she heard the cry, she at first took it to be the cry of her fawn;\nso she followed it quickly up, until she came to the ark. She at once\nstarted to break it open with her hoofs, and, aided by the struggling\nchild within, she at last forced a board covering the upper part of the\nark.\n\nWhereupon, beholding the dear child, she took pity on him, and being\nmoved with tender affection towards him, she suckled him. Thus she fully\nsatisfied him with milk, and, while he was weak and helpless, did come\nand guard him, defending him from evil and keeping him from all harm.\nAnd this is the tale that is told by those who refuse to believe that a\nman can come into the world without parents. But we shall explain later\non how it grew and how it progressed until it reached unto great\nperfection.\n\n\n_Spontaneous Generation._\n\nThose, however, who think he was born out of the earth, without father\nor mother, say that, in a low piece of ground in that Island, it\nhappened that in the course of years a certain mass of clay so fermented\nthat the four qualities heat and cold, moisture and dryness, agreed in\nequal mixture and in equal strength; and there was a great bulk of this\nclay in which some parts excelled the others, being more equally\ntempered and therefore fitter for the generation (of a mixed body); the\nmiddle portion of the clay being of the most perfect temper, and most\nclosely approaching the human temper. The matter being in a state of\nfermentation, bubblings arose by reason of its great clamminess; and it\ncame to pass that there was some clammy thing in the midst of it with a\nsmall bubbling, being divided with a thin partition into two parts, full\nof a spirituous and airy body, of the most equal temper. Thereupon, at\nthe command of the most high God, a spirit was infused into it and\njoined so closely thereto that it could scarcely be separated therefrom\neither by sense or thought; this spirit constantly flowing out from God,\nas is manifest in the light of the sun which constantly influenceth the\nworld . . . and creates.\n\n\n_Hayy grows up nursed by the Roe._\n\nAccording to the other account (which we follow) the infant developed\nand grew, being nourished with the roe's milk, until he was two years\nold. By this time he began to walk by degrees and grow his foreteeth. He\nalways followed the roe, who guarded him with most tender affection, and\nled him into places where there grew trees full of fruit, and fed him\nwith ripe and sweet fruits that fell from the tree, breaking those that\nhad a hard shell with her teeth.\n\nShe suckled the babe whenever he pleased. When he thirsted for water,\nshe led him thereto; when the beams of the sun were in any way\ntroublesome to him, she shaded him. When he suffered from the cold, she\ncherished and warmed him. And when the night approached, she brought him\nhome to his former abode and covered him with her own body and partly\nwith feathers such as remained of those wherewith the ark was stuffed\nwhen he was first put into it. When they went forth in the morning or\ncame home of an evening, they were always accompanied by a herd of deer\nthat lay together with them, in the same place.\n\n\n_Hayy learns to imitate animals' voices._\n\nIn this way the boy keeping company with them also learned their voice,\nwhich he imitated so exactly that scarcely any difference could be\nperceived between them. In like manner, whatever other voice he heard,\nwhether of bird or beast, he came very near it by virtue of a very\napprehensive faculty wherewith he was endowed. But of all the voices he\nimitated, he made most use of the deer's when they cried out for help or\ncalled their fellow-deer, when they wanted them nearer by or farther\noff. For as you know, those creatures have diverse voices according to\ntheir various ends and uses. Thus the child kept company with the deer,\nand they were not in the least afraid of one another.\n\n\n_Hayy begins to take a careful view of things._\n\nNow when the images of things, after being removed out of sight, became\nfixed in his mind, it affected him so that he took a fancy to some\nthings, whilst he had a distaste for others. In the meanwhile he took a\ncareful view of all the beasts. He saw them covered with wool, hair, and\ndifferent kinds of plumes; he beheld their great swiftness and strength\nand the weapons they were armed with for protection and defence, viz.\nhorns, teeth, hoofs, spurs, nails, and the like. Then he viewed himself\nand found he was naked, destitute of weapons, slow and weak. For\nwhenever they contended with him about the fruits they were to feed on,\nhe generally got the worst of it; they pulled the fruit from him,\nkeeping it for themselves, and he could not beat them off or flee from\nthem.\n\n\n_Hayy observes the difference between the animals and himself._\n\nMoreover, he observed that his fellow-fawns began to have little horns\nwhich they had not had at first; and while they were at first weak, and\nunable to run far, yet in progress of time grew to be very vigorous and\nnimble, and active in their movements. But none of all this he perceived\nto befall himself, and as often as he pondered over the matter, he could\nnot make out what should be the reason thereof.\n\nAlso, when he beheld the creatures such as had any fault or defect of\nlimbs, he could not find one amongst them like himself. All these\nmatters evoked great grief and anxiety within him; and after having\nearnestly pondered over the matter and perplexed himself therewith, he\nat last gave up, in utter despair, the hope of being supplied with\nthat, the want of which so sorely troubled his mind.\n\n\n_Hayy as a boy of seven. He covers himself with leaves._\n\nThereupon he, having by this time grown to be a boy of seven, decided to\nput forth his own efforts and to help himself. He took some broad leaves\nof trees (wherewith to cover his nakedness) and put some on the\nfore-part of his body, covering the hinder parts with the others; and\nhaving thus made a girdle of palm-leaves and rushes together, he girded\nhis waist therewith.\n\nBut it was not long before the leaves, growing dry, withered and fell\noff from him.\n\nHayy, by no means discouraged, at once took fresh ones in their stead,\nand put them one on top of another, thus forming double folds; but even\nthen, though remaining somewhat longer, they would not last but a short\ntime. Thereupon, he broke off the bough of a tree, the ends whereof he\nmade straight, stripping off the twigs, and then smoothed the middle\nparts thereof.\n\n\n_Hayy becomes aggressive, and attacks wild beasts._\n\nThus armed, he began to attack and affright such of the wild beasts as\nventured to oppose him, assaulting the weaker and defending himself\nagainst the stronger. In this way he came to understand to some degree\nhis own strength, and found out that his head by far excelled theirs, as\nhe had been enabled therewith to cover his own nakedness and to provide\nhimself with a weapon wherewith to defend himself. So that now he had\nno need of those natural weapons which he had formerly so much desired.\n\n\n_Hayy covers himself with the skin of an Eagle._\n\nBy this time he had grown up and was now past seven years of age; and as\nhe found the frequent repairing of the leaves wherewith he covered\nhimself very troublesome to him, it entered his mind to take unto him\nthe tail of some dead beast, and gird it about him. But when he noticed\nthat all the beasts shunned the dead bodies of those that were of the\nsame kind, and saw them flee from them, he began to feel doubtful\nwhether it was safe for him to do so, until at length he lighted one day\non a dead eagle; and when he noticed that none of the animals fled\nbefore him, he thought that from him he might get his desire\naccomplished.\n\nSo, seizing the opportunity, he stepped forward towards him and first\ncut off the wings and the tail complete just as they were; then he\nsmoothed the feathers, and spread them open; thereupon he tore off the\nremainder of the skin, dividing it into two portions, whereof he wore\nthe one on his back, the other upon his belly and the secret parts. The\ntails he fixed behind and the wings on his arms. Thus he was at the same\ntime covered and kept warm.\n\n\n_Hayy spreads terror among the beasts._\n\nMoreover, he spread such terror among the beasts that they did not\nventure to resist or oppose him, and none dared to come near him except\nhis roe which had suckled him and brought him up; and he never separated\nfrom her nor she from him. And when she became old and weakly, he led\nher to those places where there was the best food to be found, gathering\nthe sweetest fruits and giving them to her to eat.\n\n\n_Hayy is grief-stricken at the death of the Roe._\n\nYet in spite of all the care he bestowed upon her, she grew more lean\nand feeble every day, and in the end death overtook her, when all her\nmotions stopped and her actions ceased.\n\nWhen the boy noticed this, sad grief overcame him, and he was stricken\nwith the greatest sorrow. He called her with the same voice she used to\nanswer; and though he shouted at the top of his voice, he could not\nperceive any movement or alteration in her. Thereupon he began to look\ncloser into her eyes and ears, but could not find any visible defect. In\nequal manner, when he examined all the other parts of the body, he could\nfind nothing amiss. He therefore earnestly desired to find out where the\ndefect lay hidden, so that he might be able to remove it and make her\nreturn to her former state of vigorous life. But he was quite at a loss\nand utterly unable to find by what means to attain his ends. . . .\n\n\n_Hayy takes an aversion to the dead Body._\n\nIn the meantime the dead body of the roe began to putrefy and to exhale\nnoisome vapours, which tended to increase his aversion to it and made\nhim unwilling to look upon it.\n\nNot long after this he chanced to see two ravens fighting together, and\none of them struck the other down dead. After that it began to scrape\nthe earth with its claws, till it had dug up a pit wherein it buried the\ncarcase of its adversary. When Hayy observed this, he said to himself:\n\"How well has this raven done in covering the body of his companion,\nthough he did ill in killing him. How much greater reason was there for\nme to have performed this good office to my mother.\"\n\n\n_Hayy buries the body of the Roe._\n\nThereupon he digged a grave, in which he laid his mother's body,\nthrowing earth upon it. Then he went on meditating on the thing which\nhad governed the body, but could not apprehend what sort of thing it\nwas. But when he looked on the rest of the roes, and saw that they all\nhad the same figure and form as his mother had had, he gathered there\nwas in every one of them something that governed and actuated them, like\nthat which had actuated and governed his mother. And on account of that\nlikeness he continued to follow them, and liked to be in their company.\n\n\n_Hayy observes divers kinds of Living Creatures and Plants._\n\nIn this condition he remained some time, contemplating divers kinds of\nliving creatures and plants, and walking about the shore of that Island\nto see whether he could find anything like himself, as he observed many\nof the other animals and plants had many resembling one another. But as\nmuch as he looked about, he could not find one like himself. And when,\non walking round, he perceived that the Island was everywhere compassed\nwith the sea, he fancied there was no other Island besides.\n\n\n_Hayy discovers Fire kindled by the friction of Reeds._\n\nBut once it so happened that fire was kindled by friction among a parcel\nof reeds, which at first greatly frightened him, being a thing he had\nnever seen before, so that he stood at a distance a good while, greatly\nwondering at it.\n\nYet at last he ventured to draw nearer and nearer to it by degrees; in\namazement he observed the brightness of its light, and that wondrous\nforce in consuming everything it seized, converting it into its own\nnature, till in the end, full of wonder and incited by that innate\nboldness and courage that God had implanted in his mind, he felt induced\nto stretch his hand out to get hold of it.\n\nBut when it burnt his fingers, and he saw he could not lay hold of it,\nhe endeavoured to take a stick from the burning tree which the fire had\nnot as yet completely seized upon, and taking hold of that part that was\nstill untouched, he easily gained his ends and carried the tree brand\nhome to his lodgings, which he had selected.\n\nThere he kept his fire and ceased not to tend it day and night.\nParticularly at night it was of great service to him, inasmuch as its\nlight and heat supplied the place of the sun, so that he was greatly\npleased with it and began to look upon it as the most excellent thing he\nhad yet had about him.\n\nAnd when he noticed that it always tended upwards--he felt convinced\nthat it was one of those celestial substances which he saw shining in\nthe firmament. He then tried the strength thereof upon all sorts of\nbodies by throwing them into it, and he perceived it consumed them all\nsooner or later according to their natures, which rendered them more or\nless combustible.\n\nAmongst other experiments wherewith he tried to prove its strength, he\nflung therein certain fishes which the sea had cast upon the shore; as\nthe steam thereof came to his nose, the smell whetted his appetite so\nthat he ventured to taste of them; and when he found it agreeable to his\npalate, he began to get used to the eating of fish and flesh. Then he\napplied himself to fishing and hunting those creatures that are\nspecially fit to feed on, until he became a great expert in those\nsports.\n\nThus his regard for the fire greatly increased day by day, because it\nhelped to provide him with various sorts of food with which he was quite\nunacquainted before.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD SEPTENARY.\n\n\n_Hayy makes himself Clothes and Shoes of the Skins of Animals._\n\nBy the time he had attained to the end of his _third septenary_, viz. to\nthe twenty-first year of his age, he had found out many things which\nwere of great use to him for the conveniences of life. He made himself\nclothes and shoes of the skins of wild beasts after he had dissected\nthem for use. He made himself thread of their hair, as also of the rind\nof the stalks of althea mallows, and other plants that could be easily\nparted asunder and drawn into threads. And he learned the making of\nthese threads from the use he had made of the rushes before. He made a\nsort of bodkin of the strongest thorns he could get and splinters of\ncane sharp pointed with stones.\n\nThe art of building he was taught by the observations he made upon the\nswallows' nests. He built himself a room to repose and rest therein, and\nalso a store-house and pantry to lay up the remainder of his victuals.\nHe guarded it with a door made of canes twisted together to prevent any\nof the beasts from getting in when he happened to be away. He also got\nhold of certain birds of prey which he made use of for hawking, and\nothers of the tamer sort which he bred up, and fed upon their eggs and\nchickens. He also took to him the horns of wild bulls, which he fastened\nupon the strongest canes he could get and the staves of the tree Alzan\nand others of similar kind.\n\nThus, by the help of fire and of sharp edged stones, he so fitted them\nthat they served him as spears. He made himself also a shield of the\nskins of beasts folded and compacted together. And thus he tried to\nprovide himself with artificial weapons, being destitute of natural\narms.\n\n\n_Hayy learns to ride._\n\nWhen he saw that his hand supplied all those defects quite well, and\nthat none of the various kinds of wild beasts ventured to stand up\nagainst him, but fled away from him and only excelled him in their\nswiftness, he bethought himself of contriving some art how to be even\nwith them, and finally decided there would be nothing so convenient as\nto chase some of the strongest and swiftest beasts of the Island,\nnourishing them with food until they might let him get on the back of\nthem, so that he might pursue other kinds of wild beasts.\n\nThere were in that island wild horses and asses, out of which he chose\nsome that seemed fittest for the purpose, and by dint of exercise he\nmade them so tractable that he became complete master of his wishes. And\nwhen he had made out of the skins of those beasts something that served\nhim instead of bridles and saddles, it was an easy matter for him to\novertake such beasts, which he scarcely could have taken in any other\nway.\n\nHe made all these discoveries whilst he busied himself in the study of\nanatomy, studiously searching after the properties of the component\nparts of animals and their difference, and all this he did, as we\nmentioned above, by the time he was twenty-one years of age.\n\n\n_Hayy examines the Nature of Bodies._\n\nAfter this he proceeded further to examine the nature of bodies that\nwere subject to generation and corruption, as the different kinds of\nanimals, plants, minerals and different sorts of stones, earth, water,\nexhalations and vapours, ice, snow, hail, smoke, fire, and hoar-frost.\n\nIn all these he observed different qualities and a diversity of actions\nand motions, agreeing in some respects and differing in others. He found\nthat, so far as they agreed, they were _one_; where they disagreed, _a\ngreat many_; and when he looked into the properties whereby they were\ndistinguished from one another, he found them so manifold that he could\nnot comprehend them.\n\nAs to himself, he knew that his spirit was one in essence, and was\nreally the substance of his being, and that the other parts served only\nas so many instruments. So he perceived his own essence to be but one.\n\nThen attentively considering the different kinds of animals, he\nperceived that the one thing common to them all was sensation and\nnutrition and the faculty of moving of their own accord wheresoever\nthey pleased, all of which actions he was assured were the proper\neffects of the animal spirit, and that those lesser things in which they\ndiffered were not so proper to that spirit.\n\nFor he considered that the animal spirit may differ with regard to some\nqualities, according to the variety of constitutions in several animals.\nAnd so he looked upon the whole species of living creatures as one.\n\nThen, on contemplating the different species of plants, he perceived\nthat the individuals of every species were like one another in their\nboughs, branches, leaves, fruits; and so, taking a view of all the\ndifferent kinds of plants, he decided within himself that they were all\n_one_ and the same in respect of that agreement between themselves in\ntheir actions, viz. their nourishment and growth.\n\nHe then contemplated those bodies which have neither sense, nourishment,\nnor growth, such as stones, earth, water, air, and fire; which he saw\nhad all of them three dimensions, viz. _length_, _breadth_, and\n_thickness_; and that their differences only consisted in this, that\nsome of them were coloured, others not; some were hot, others cold, and\nsimilar differences.\n\nHe noticed also that hot bodies grew cold, and, on the contrary, cold\nones grew warm. He saw further that water rarefied into vapours, and\nvapours again thickened and turned into water. Then he observed that the\nbodies which were burnt turned into coals, ashes, flame, and smoke; and\nthat the smoke, when in its ascent it was intercepted by an arch of\nstones, thickened them into soot, and became like other earthly\nsubstances. From whence he concluded that all things were in reality\n_one_, like the animals and plants, though multiplied and diversified in\nsome respects.\n\n\n_Hayy transfers his thoughts to the Heavenly Bodies._\n\nNow after he had attained thus far, so as to have a general and\nindistinct notion of an _Agent_, a vehement desire seized him to get a\nmore distinct knowledge of him. But since he had not yet withdrawn\nhimself from the sensible world, he began to look for this voluntary\nAgent among things sensible; nor did he know, as yet, whether it were\none Agent or many. Therefore he took a view of all the bodies that were\nnear him, viz. which his thoughts had been continually fixed upon; which\nhe found all successively liable to generation and corruption, either\ncompletely or in parts, as _water_ and _earth_, parts of which are\nconsumed by _fire_.\n\nHe perceived likewise that the air was changed into snow by extremity of\ncold, and then again into water; and among all the other bodies which he\nhad near him, he could find none which had not its existence anew and\nrequired some voluntary Agent to give it a being. Therefore he laid all\nthose sublunary bodies aside, and transferred his thoughts to the\nconsideration of the heavenly bodies.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOURTH SEPTENARY.\n\n\n_Hayy ponders over Heaven and Stars._\n\nThus far had he arrived with his reflections about the _fourth\nseptenary_ of his age. He recognised that the heavens and all the stars\ncontained therein were bodies, because they are extended according to\nthe three dimensions: length, breadth, and thickness.\n\nThen he began to ask himself whether their extension was infinite,\nwhether they extended to an endless length and breadth, or whether they\nwere circumscribed by any bounds and terminated by certain limits.\n\n\n_Hayy finds that the Body of Heaven is finite._\n\nThis problem continually occupied his mind. But soon, owing to the power\nof his reflection and the penetration of his thought, he perceived that\nthe idea of an infinite body was an absurdity, an impossibility, a\nnotion quite unintelligible. And he confirmed himself in this way of\nthinking by numerous arguments that presented themselves to his mind.\n\nAnd when, by the singular sharpness of his wit, he had satisfied\nhimself that the body of heaven was finite, he wanted to find out, in\nthe next place, of what form it was and how it was limited by the\nsuperficies that compassed it round.\n\n\n_Hayy contemplates Sun, Moon, and Stars._\n\nFirst of all he contemplated the sun, moon, and stars, and saw that they\nall rose in the East, and set in the West; and those lights which went\nright over his head described a greater circle, whilst those at a\ngreater distance from the vertical point towards the North or South\ndescribed the lesser circle. So that the least circles which were\ndescribed by any of the stars were those two which went round the two\npoles, the one North, the other South, the last of which is the circle\nof the star Suhail (that is Canopus) and the circle Al-farkadani, which\nwas next the northern.\n\nAnd, since he lived in an island situated under the equinoctial line,\nall those circles cut the horizon at right angles and had alike\nreference to North and South, seeing both the poles appeared to him at\nonce. He observed that when a star arose in a larger circle and another\nin a lesser, yet they both arose together and set at the same time, and\nhe noticed it to be the case with all stars at all times.\n\n\n_Hayy concludes that the Heaven is of a spherical Figure._\n\nTherefore, it was evident to him that the heaven was of a spherical\nfigure.\n\nIn this he was further confirmed by observing the return of the sun,\nmoon, and the other stars to the East after their setting; and also\nbecause they always appeared to him of the same proportion of magnitude\nwhen they arose, when they were in the midst of heaven, and when they\nset; for if their motions had not been circular, they must have been\nnearer to sight at some time than at others; and then their dimensions\nwould have appeared greater or lesser when they were nearer to him or\nfurther off.\n\nBut since there was no such appearance, he felt assured that the figure\nof heaven was spherical. Then he considered the motion of the moon, and\nsaw that it was carried from the East to the West as the other planets\nwere. So that at length a great part of astronomy became known to him.\n\nIt appeared to him, further, that the motions of the planets were in\ndifferent spheres, all of which were comprehended in another that was\nabove them all, and which turned about all the rest in the space of a\nday and a night. But it would be too tedious to set down, to explain in\nparticular, how he advanced in this science; and what we have already\nsaid is quite sufficient for our present purpose.\n\nNow, when he had attained to this degree of astronomical science, he\nfound that the whole of the heavens and whatever it contained was one\nthing composed of parts mutually joined together; and that all those\nbodies which he had before considered--as earth, water, air, plants,\nanimals--were all of them contained in it, so that none of them went\nbeyond its bounds. He found also that the whole body was like one animal\nin which the stars answered to the senses; the spheres joined together\nanswered to the limbs; and all those bodies therein, which were liable\nto generation and corruption, resembled those things which are contained\nin the belly of an animal.\n\n\n_Hayy ponders over the Creation of the World._\n\nNow, whereas it appeared to him that the whole world was only one\nSubstance which stood in need of a voluntary Agent, and that its various\nparts seemed to him but one thing, in like manner as the bodies of the\nlower world which is subject to generation and corruption, he took a\nbroad view of the whole world, and debated within himself whether it\nexisted in time after it had been, and came to be out of nothing; or\nwhether it was a thing that had existed from eternity and never wanted a\nbeginning.\n\nIn respect to this matter, he had many and grave doubts within himself,\nso that neither of these opinions prevailed over the other. For when he\nproposed to himself the belief of eternity, there arose many objections\nin his mind with regard to the impossibility of an _infinite being_,\njust as the existence of an _infinite body_ had seemed impossible to\nhim.\n\nHe saw, furthermore, that any substance that was not void of _qualities_\nproduced anew, but always endued with them, must also itself be produced\nanew, because it cannot be said to be before them; and that which cannot\nexist before qualities newly produced, must needs itself be newly\nproduced.\n\nOn the other hand, however, when he proposed to himself to believe in a\nnew production thereof, other objections occurred to him--in particular\nthis, that the notion of its being produced after non-existence could in\nno wise be understood, unless it was supposed there was some time\nantecedent to its existence; whereas time was amongst the number of\nthose things that belonged to the world and was inseparable therefrom,\nwherefore the world cannot be understood to be later than time.\n\nHe then reasoned within himself: if the world be produced anew, it must\nneeds have a producer or creator; and if so, why did this creator create\nthe world now and not before?\n\nWas it because some motive supervened which it had not before? But there\nwas nothing besides him, the Creator.\n\nWas it, then, owing to some change in his own nature? If so, what has\ncaused this change?\n\nThus he did not cease to consider these things within himself for some\nyears, and to ponder over its different bearings; and a great many\narguments offered themselves on both sides, so that neither of those\nopinions preponderated in his judgment over the other.\n\n\n_Hayy concludes that the world must have a Creator without bodily\nSubstance._\n\nSince it seemed difficult to him to make a definite decision on this\nquestion, he began to consider within himself what would be the\nnecessary consequence which did follow from either of those opinions,\nand that they might both be alike. And he perceived that, if he supposed\nthe world to be created in time, and to have had an existence after\nnon-existence, it would necessarily follow therefrom that the world\ncould not come forth into existence by its own power, but required some\nagent to produce it; but this agent could not be perceived by any of the\nsenses; for if it were an object of the senses, it would be _body_, and\nif _body_, part of the world, and would have had its existence anew; so\nthat it would have stood in need of some other cause which should have\nproduced it anew. And if this second creator were also a body, he would\ndepend upon a third, and that third upon a fourth, and so on _ad\ninfinitum_, which, however, would be absurd and irrational.\n\nThe world, therefore, must necessarily have a creator that has not a\nbodily substance; and as the creator is, indeed, without such a bodily\nsubstance, it is quite impossible for us to apprehend him by any of our\nsenses; for we perceive nothing by the help of the five senses but\nbodies or such qualities as adhere to bodies.\n\nAnd since it cannot be apprehended by sense, neither can it be\ncomprehended by imagination. For imagination is nothing else but a\nrepresentation of the forms of things, when their bodily objects are\nabsent. And seeing it is not a body, we must not attribute to him any\nbodily properties, the first of which is extension into length, breadth,\nthickness; but he is free from that, and also from all other properties\nof body that flow from it. And seeing he is the Creator of the world,\ndoubtless he knows whatsoever is in it, and has the sovereign command\nover it. \"Shall not he know, that created it? For he is most eminent in\nknowledge and omniscient.\" (Koran.)\n\nOn the other side he saw that if he believed in the eternity of the\nworld, and that it was ever as it is now, and that no time of chaos\npreceded it, that necessarily it would follow that motion was from\neternity also, without any period of beginning, because there could be\nno rest before it whence to take its beginning.\n\nNow, every motion necessarily requires a _mover_, and that mover is\neither some power diffused in some body, to wit, either in the body of\nthe thing moved or else through some other body without it, or else some\nother power that is not diffused or dispersed through anything at all.\n\nNow every power diffused in any body and dispersed through it, is\ndivided or doubled. For example: gravity in a stone which causes it to\nmove downwards. For if the stone be divided into two parts, the gravity\nis also divided into two parts; and if you add thereto another stone of\nequal weight, the gravity is doubled. And if it were possible that the\nstone grew _ad infinitum_, the gravity would also grow _ad infinitum_.\nOn the other hand, if the stone should grow to a certain size and remain\nthere, also the gravity would increase to the same extent, and no\nfarther.\n\nNow it has already been demonstrated that every body must necessarily\nbe finite, and consequently every power inherent in a body is also\nfinite. If, therefore, we can find a power which produces an infinite\neffect, it must needs be such a power that is not inherent in any body.\n\nNow we find that the heaven is moved with a perpetual motion, without\nany cessation at all.\n\nTherefore, if we affirm that its motion has no beginning, it necessarily\nfollows that the power that moves is not inherent in its own body nor in\nany other body that is without it; but proceeds from something\naltogether abstract from bodies, and which can be described by no terms\napplicable to bodies.\n\nThen it was evident to him, from his former contemplation of the lower\nworld which is liable to generation and corruption, that the true\nessence of body consisted in its form, which is its disposition to\nvarious motions, but that that part of its essence which consisted in\nmatter was very mean and poor, and can scarcely be conceived. Therefore\nthe existence of the whole world consists in its disposition to be moved\nby this Mover, who is free of all matter and of all adjuncts belonging\nto the body, abstracted from everything which senses can apprehend or\nimagination can reach.\n\nAnd since he is the efficient cause of the motion of the heaven, in\nwhich (though there be different kinds) there is no difference, no\ninnovation or cessation, doubtless he has power over it and a perfect\nknowledge of it.\n\nThus his contemplation brought him to the same conclusion to which he\nhad arrived before. Nor did it trouble him in any way that he doubted\nthe eternity of the world and its existence anew. For either way it was\nmanifest to him that the Creator of the world was no body nor joined to\nbody nor separated therefrom. For conjunction and separation, to be\nwithin and without, are the qualities of bodies, from which the Creator\nis quite free. And because every body stands in need of a form to be\nadded to their matter, considering it cannot subsist but by that, nor\nexist without it, but by this voluntary Agent, it appeared to him that\nall things owed their existence to this Agent; and that none of them\ncould subsist but through him; and consequently this Agent was the cause\nof them all, and they the effects, whether they were newly created after\nnon-existence or whether they had no beginning with respect of time,\nwithout any privation foregoing it.\n\nFor upon either of these two cases their existence depended, for they\ncould not continue, unless he continued, nor exist unless he existed,\nnor be eternal without his being eternal; but he stood not in any need\nof them nor in any way depended upon them.\n\nAnd how should it be otherwise, considering it has been demonstrated\nthat its power and virtue is infinite, whereas all bodies are finite and\nterminated and equally whatsoever adhereth unto them or dependeth upon\nthem; therefore that the whole world, and whatsoever is in it, heaven,\nearth or stars, and whatsoever belongs to them, above or beneath them,\nis all his work and creation and consequently posterior to him in\nnature though not in time. As if you take any body in your hand and then\nmove your hand, the body must necessarily follow the motion of your hand\nwith a motion which is posterior to the motion of the hand in nature,\nthough not in time, seeing both motions began together.\n\nSo all this world is created and caused by this Agent out of time, whose\ncommand is, when he would have anything done: _Let it be_, and _it is_.\n\n\n_Hayy admires the work of the Creator._\n\nNow, when he saw that all things existing were the work of the Creator,\nhe again considered the power of the same, greatly admiring so rare a\nworkmanship, such accurate wisdom and profound knowledge.\n\nThere appeared to him in the most minute creatures (much more in the\ngreater) such signs of wisdom and marvels of the work of creation that\nhis mind was filled with the greatest admiration. Then he became assured\nthat all these things must proceed from a voluntary Agent of infinite\nperfection, even above all perfection, to whom even the weight of an\natom could not be unknown whether in heaven or earth, nor any other\nthing whether lesser or greater than it.\n\nThereupon he considered all the different sorts of animals, and how this\nAgent had given to every one of them such a fabric of body and then\ntaught them what use to make thereof. For if he had not taught them to\nuse the members he had given them for those employments for which they\nwere designed, they would not have derived any benefit or advantage\ntherefrom, but on the contrary would rather have found them a burden.\n\nHence he knew that he was most bountiful and most gracious of all. And\nthen, when he perceived among the creatures anything that had beauty,\nperfection, power and strength, or whatever other excellency it had, he\nconcluded that it must necessarily proceed from that voluntary Agent,\nfrom his existence and by his operation.\n\nHe knew that the qualities that were in him were much greater, more\nperfect, more absolute, more bountiful, more excellent and more lasting;\nand there was no comparison between those things that were in him and\nthose that were found in the animals.\n\nNor did he cease to go on with his search till he had run through all\nthe attributes of perfection, and found that they were all in the Agent\nand proceeded from him, and that he was worthy of them more than any to\nwhom they should be ascribed.\n\nAlso he searched all the attributes of defects, and saw him free from\nthem and void of them. And how was it possible for him to be otherwise,\nsince the notion of imperfection is nothing but mere privation or what\ndepends upon it.\n\nHow should he in any degree partake of privation, who is a most simple\nbeing, the very essence himself, and giving a being to everything that\nexists, and besides whom there is no existence. _For He is the\nExistence, He is the Absolute, He is the Perfection, He is the Beauty,\nHe is the Glory, He is the Power, He is the Knowledge, He is He, and all\nThings perish beside Him._ (Koran.)\n\n\n\n\nFIFTH SEPTENARY.\n\n\n_Hayy is completely taken up with the Contemplation of the Superior\nIntellectual World._\n\nThus far he had advanced in his knowledge by the end of the _fifth\nseptenary_ from his birth, that is when he was thirty-five years old.\nAnd the consideration of this supreme being was then so fixed in his\nmind that it hindered him to think of any other thing, so that he forgot\naltogether the consideration of their existence and of their nature,\nuntil in the end it came to this, that as soon as he cast his eyes upon\nany thing of any kind whatsoever, he at once saw in it the prints of\nthis Agent, and in a moment his thoughts were diverted from the Creature\nand transferred to the Creator, so that his heart was altogether\nwithdrawn from thinking on this inferior world, which contains the\nobjects of sense (inferior sensible world), and entirely taken up with\nthe contemplation of the superior intellectual world.\n\n\n_Hayy examines all his Senses and Faculties._\n\nHaving now attained the knowledge of this supreme being of permanent\nexistence, which has no cause of its own existence, but itself is the\ncause of the existence of all other things, he was next desirous to know\nby what means he came to this knowledge and by what faculty he had\napprehended this being.\n\nTherefore he first examined all his senses, viz. his hearing, seeing,\nsmelling, tasting, and feeling, and saw that all these apprehended\nnothing but what was bodily or what is in the body.\n\nFor the hearing apprehended nothing but sounds, and these arose from the\nagitation of the air, by the friction of bodies. The sight apprehends\ncolours, the smelling odours; the taste savours, the touch temperatures\nof the body, hardness and softness, roughness and smoothness. Nor does\nthe imagination apprehend anything which has not length, breadth, and\nthickness.\n\nNow all these things which are thus apprehended are the adjuncts of\nbodies, and our senses apprehend nothing else, because they are\nfaculties diffused through our bodies and divided according to the\ndivision of bodies, and therefore cannot apprehend anything else but\ndivisible body. For as this faculty is diffused through the visible\nbody, it must necessarily, whenever it apprehends anything, be divided\nas the faculty is divided. Therefore every faculty which is seated in\nthe body can apprehend nothing except a body, or what is inherent in a\nbody.\n\nNow it has already been shown that this necessarily existent being is\nfree from all material qualities in any respect, and consequently cannot\nbe apprehended except by something which is neither matter nor any\nfaculty inherent in matter, or in any way dependent upon it, neither\nwithin it nor without it, neither joined to it nor separated from it.\n\nIt appeared also to him that he apprehended this supreme being, and that\nhe gained a firm knowledge of it by that which was his own essence. It\nwas therefore clear to him that his essence was something incorporeal\nwithout any material quality; and whatever material thing he apprehended\nby his outward sense, was not in reality his essence; but that it was\nsomething of an incorporeal substance, whereby he apprehended that\nabsolute and perfect being that is necessarily and of itself existent.\n\nHaving thus learnt that his real essence was not a corporeal substance\nperceived by his senses and compassed about by his skin, his body seemed\nto him something altogether contemptible, and so he wholly addicted\nhimself to the contemplation of that noble essence whereby he\napprehended that noble and necessarily existent being. Then he\nconsidered within himself, whether this noble essence could possibly be\ndissolved, corrupted, and vanish altogether, or whether it were of\nperpetual duration.\n\nNow he knew that corruption and dissolution were properties of bodies,\nand consisted in putting off one form and putting on another; as for\ninstance when water is changed into air and air into water, or when\nherbs are turned into earth or ashes, and earth into herbs--for this is\nthe true notion of corruption. But an incorporeal being, independent of\nbody and altogether free therefrom, cannot be liable to corruption.\n\nHaving thus quite assured himself that his real essence could not be\ncorrupted, he desired to know in what condition it would be itself when\nit left the body and was separated therefrom; but now he knew that it\nwas not so, until the body was no longer a fit instrument for its use.\n\nTherefore weighing in his mind all his apprehensive faculties, he saw\nthat every one of them apprehended its object, sometimes potentially,\nsometimes actually--as when the eye is shut or turns itself away from\nthe visible object, it is potentially apprehensive--which means, though\nit does not actually apprehend it at present, yet is able to do so for\nthe time to come. And when the eye is open and turned toward the effect,\nit is actually apprehensive, which means, it apprehends it at present.\nAnd so it is with all the other faculties.\n\nFurthermore he saw that if any of these faculties never actually\napprehended its proper object, yet so long as it is potentially\napprehensive, it has no desire to apprehend any particular object,\nbecause it has no knowledge thereof, as is seen in a man who is born\nblind. But if it did ever actually apprehend, and becomes afterwards\npotentially apprehensive, it is inclined to apprehend its object\nactually, because it has been acquainted with the object and is intent\nupon it, as a man, who has before enjoyed his sight, continually desires\nvisible objects after he is blind; and the more glorious, perfect, and\nbeautiful the object is, the more his desire increases and the greater\nis his grief for the loss.\n\nSo if we can find out anything which has an unlimited perfection,\ninfinite beauty, brightness and splendour, that does not proceed from\nit, then he who is deprived of the sight and knowledge of that thing,\nafter having once known it, must necessarily suffer inexpressible\nanguish, so long as he remains destitute thereof; whereas he that has it\ncontinually present before him, must needs enjoy uninterrupted delight,\nperpetual felicity, boundless joy and gladness.\n\n\n\n\nHAYY RETURNS TO THE SENSIBLE WORLD.\n\n\nAs to the end of his story, I will tell you all about it, with the help\nof God.\n\nWhen _Hayy_ returned to the Sensible World, after his digression into\nthe Divine World, he began to loathe the burden and troubles of this\nmortal life on earth, and to be filled with a most earnest and\npassionate desire of the life to come; and he strove to return to the\nsame state in the same way as at first, until he attained thereto with\nless labour than he had done formerly. And he continued in it the second\ntime longer than at the first.\n\nThen he returned to the Sensible World; and then again he sought to\nre-enter into that state of speculation, and found it easier than the\nfirst and second time, and continued therein much longer.\n\nIn this way it grew easier and easier unto him, and his remaining\ntherein became longer and longer, until at last he could attain it\nwhenever he desired, and remain therein as long as he pleased, except\nwhen the necessity of his body required it. Those necessities, however,\nhe had restrained within so narrow a compass that a narrower could\nhardly be imagined.\n\nAnd, while in this state he often wished that God, the Almighty and\nGlorious, would altogether detach him from this body of his that called\nhim away from that place, so that he might wholly and continually give\nhimself up to his delight, and might be freed from all that pain and\ngrief with which he was afflicted, as often as he was forced to turn his\nmind from that state to attend on his bodily necessities.\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTH SEPTENARY.\n\n\n_Asal and Salaman appear on the Scene._\n\nThus he continued in this state until he had passed the _seventh\nseptenary_ of his age, that is, until he was fifty years of age. Then it\nhappened that he made the acquaintance of Asal. And the account of this\nmeeting with him we shall now relate, with the help of God.\n\nThey report that there is an Island near unto that where _Hayy Ibn\nYokdhan_ was born--according to one of those two different accounts as\nto the manner of his birth--unto which had retired one of those pious\nsects that had for its founder some of the ancient Prophets (the Mercy\nof God be upon them!), a sect which used to discourse on all things that\nhad a new existence in nature and by way of parables to represent their\nimages to the imagination, so that their impressions fixed themselves in\nthe minds of men. This sect spread itself in that Island and began to\nprevail and become famous, till at length the King himself entered it\nand forced his subjects also to adhere to it.\n\nNow there were born in that same Island two men of great endowments and\nexcellence, great lovers of goodness--their names were _Asal_ and\n_Salaman_. Meeting with this sect, they embraced it most heartily,\naddressing themselves to the punctual observance of all its precepts and\nthe continuous exercise of the works required thereby; and to that end\nthey entered into a bond of friendship with each other. They studiously\nmade careful inquiries into the passages contained in the law of that\nsect, amongst others on the descriptions of God, the Almighty and the\nmost Glorious, and His angels; on the resurrection, and the rewards and\npunishments of a future life.\n\n\n_Nature and Character of Asal and Salaman._\n\nNow, of the two _Asal_ was the one who made a deeper search into the\ninside of things, was more given to studying mystical meanings and\nsenses of words, and diligently endeavoured to interpret them.\n_Salaman_, on the other hand, his fellow student, mostly observed the\noutward things, never troubling himself about such interpretations, and\nabstained from a curious search and speculation of things. Apart from\nthis difference, however, both were constant in performing those\nceremonies prescribed, and strove to fight against their unruly passions\nand affections.\n\n\n_Further Differences of Asal and Salaman._\n\nNow, in this law there were contained some sayings which seemed to\nexhort and encourage men to affect retirement and a solitary life, and\nto intimate that salvation and happiness were to be attained thereby;\nother sayings, again, seemed to encourage men unto conversation and\nfellowship and applying themselves to embrace human society.\n\n_Asal_ addicted himself wholly to retirement, and he preferred those\nsayings which tended thereunto, seeing that he was by nature inclined to\nperpetual contemplation, and searching into the meanings of things; for\nhe had great hopes of attaining to his ends by selecting a solitary\nlife.\n\n_Salaman_, however, applied himself to conversation and human society\nand those sayings of the law that tended that way, because he had a\nnatural aversion to contemplation and more subtle inquiries into things;\nand it occurred to him that society and company tended to drive away\nevil thoughts, and banished that diversity of opinions which intruded\nthemselves into his mind and kept him from attending the motions and\nsuggestions of evil spirits. And in the end their disagreement on this\nparticular point caused them to depart one from another.\n\n\n_Asal repairs to Hayy's Island._\n\nNow _Asal_ had heard of that Island wherein it is reported that Hayy\ngrew up. He knew the fruitfulness and conveniences thereof and the\nhealth-giving temper of its air, so that it would afford him such a\nresting-place as he wished to find. He decided, therefore, to go\nthither and to withdraw himself from company and society for the\nremainder of his days.\n\nTherefore, gathering all his goods together, with a part thereof he\nhired a ship to convey him to that Island, whilst the rest he\ndistributed among the poor people. Then he took his farewell from his\nfriend Salaman and went abroad. The mariners transported him safely unto\nthe Island, set him ashore, and departed.\n\nThere he continued serving God, the Almighty and Glorious, sanctifying\nhim and meditating upon his glorious names and attributes, without being\nin any way interrupted or disturbed. When he felt hungry he took of the\nfruits of the Island or he got by hunting as much as satisfied his\nhunger.\n\nIn this state he remained for some time, enjoying the greatest possible\npleasure and complete tranquillity of mind, arising out of the\ncommunication he had with his Lord; and every day experiencing his\nfavours and most precious gifts, he easily brought to his hand such\nthings as he wanted and were necessary for his support, which confirmed\nhis belief in him and gave him great comfort.\n\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ in the meantime was wholly taken up with sublime\nspeculations, and never stirred out of his cave but once a week, to take\nunto him such food as most readily presented itself. Thus it happened\nthat _Asal_ did not light upon him at first. For walking round the\nutmost parts of the Island, and compassing the extremes thereof, he\nneither met any man nor could he perceive the footsteps of any one:\nwhich increased his gladness of mind, and he was delighted with what he\nhad proposed unto himself--that was solitude and retirement.\n\n\n_Hayy and Asal meet._\n\nAt last it came to pass at a certain time that, _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_\nstepping out of his cell to look out for some food in the same place to\nwhich _Asal_ had retired, they spied one another.\n\n_Asal_, for his part, had no doubt but that the man he saw was some\nreligious person given to solitude who had retired into that Island as\nhe had done himself. He was afraid, therefore, lest if he should come up\nto him and make himself known, it might spoil his meditation, and thus\nbecome an impediment to him in accomplishing his desires.\n\nBut, as for _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, he could not imagine what it was: for of\nall the creatures he had ever beheld in his life, there was none that\nresembled him in the least.\n\nNow _Asal_ was clothed in a black coat, made up of hair and wool, which\nhe fancied was a natural cover; at which _Hayy_ stood a long time in\nutter wonder and astonishment. Thereupon _Asal_, being afraid lest he\nshould disturb his meditation and divert his attention therefrom, turned\nhis back and fled. _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ ran after him, driven by an innate\ndesire to know and find out the truth of things.\n\nWhen he saw, however, that _Asal_ fled from him with all his might in\nsuch haste, he retired a little into the background and hid himself\nthere, so that _Asal_ thought he had gone off altogether and gone far\naway from that place where he had seen him. _Asal_ therefore began to\nbetake himself, as his custom was, unto his prayers and reading, to\ninvocation and weeping, to supplication and complaining, and these\nexercises had quite turned him away from any other thing.\n\n\n_Hayy catches hold of Asal._\n\nIn the meantime _Hayy_ drew near little by little, while _Asal_ did not\nperceive him at all, until at length he came so near as to hear his\nreading and the prayers he uttered. He also took notice of his humble\ngesture and his weeping, whence he heard a pleasant voice, consisting of\nwords quite distinct, such as he had never observed before in any kind\nof animals. Then, beholding his shape and lineaments, he observed that\nhe was of the same form with himself. He was satisfied that the coat\nwith which he was clothed was not a natural skin, but an artificial\nhabit like unto his own clothing. And when he observed the decency and\ncomeliness of his behaviour and his supplication and weeping, he did not\nat all question but that he was one of the Essences, which had the\nknowledge of the _True One_.\n\nTherefore, he felt a passionate desire to get acquainted with him, to\nfind out what was the matter with him and what was the cause of that\nweeping and supplication. Thereupon he came nearer unto him, until\n_Asal_, observing it, took to his heels again. But _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_,\nendowed with vigour and power, both of knowledge and body, bestowed upon\nhim by God--pursued him with all his might, till at last he overtook\nhim, seized him, and held him fast that he could not make again his\nescape from him.\n\n\n_Hayy and Asal stroke one another._\n\nThereupon, when _Asal_ looked upon him and beheld him clothed with the\nskins of wild beasts with the hair on, and his own hair so long that it\ncovered part of his body, and observed his great swiftness and strength,\nhe was greatly afraid of him and began to pacify him by stroking him,\nand to entertain him in words. But _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ did not understand\na word of what he said nor knew any of his meaning, only he perceived\nthe tokens of his fear and endeavoured to allay his fear with such\nvoices as he had learned from some of the animals: he gently stroked his\nhand, his head, and the sides of his neck, and showed kindness unto him\nand expressed much gladness and joy, till at last _Asal's_ fear was\nassuaged, and he perceived that he intended no evil to him.\n\n\n_Hayy and Asal try to understand each other._\n\nNow _Asal_, in his earnest desire to obtain the knowledge of things, had\nstudied most languages and was skilful of them. So he began to speak to\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, and to interrogate him concerning his condition in\nevery tongue he knew, and asked him questions concerning his doings and\nways of life, and took pains to make himself understood by him. But it\nwas all in vain: for _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, taking notice of all this,\nstood all the time wondering at what he heard, being quite at a loss to\nknow what it all meant. He observed only the serenity of his countenance\nand manifest signs of goodwill. Thus they stood wrapped in wonder,\nlooking at one another.\n\n\n_Asal makes Hayy eat of his food._\n\nNow _Asal_ had by him some of the remainder of the food which he had\nbrought along with him, from the inhabited Island from whence he came.\nThis he offered now to _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, but he did not know what it\nwas; for he had never seen anything of that kind before. Then _Asal_,\neating some of it himself, invited _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ to take some of it\nwith him. But _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ bethought himself of those laws which\nhe had prescribed to himself concerning the taking of his food, and\nseeing he knew not the nature of those things that were set before him,\nand whether it was lawful for him or not to partake thereof, restrained\nhimself from eating. Whereupon _Asal_ continued urging him on and kindly\ninvited him thereunto.\n\n\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan at last joins Asal at dinner, but repents afterwards._\n\nAt last _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, being desirous and very anxious to get\nacquainted with him, and, besides, being afraid that in continuing to\ninsist on his refusal, he might alienate his affections from him,\nventured to partake of that meat and to eat thereof. But as soon as he\nhad tasted it and found it very pleasant to his taste, he recognised\nthat he had done amiss by breaking his contract and the resolution and\npromises he had made to himself concerning his diet. Thus he became\ngreatly repentant of what he had done, and had a mind of withdrawing\nhimself from _Asal_, and to betake himself unto his former state by\nendeavouring to return to his former exercise of sublime speculation.\n\n\n_Asal becomes Hayy's Companion and Teacher._\n\nWhen he found that this intellectual vision did not immediately return\nto him, he thought it best to remain with _Asal_ in the sensible world,\nuntil he had thoroughly satisfied himself as to his condition, so that\nafterwards there might remain no further inclination towards him, and\nthen he might return to his former state and apply himself to his former\ncontemplation without any interruption. So he joined himself to the\ncompany and fellowship of _Asal_: and when _Asal_ saw that he could not\nspeak, he was fully assured that no danger could arise to his religion\nby keeping company with him; and besides he had hopes that it might come\nto pass that he should teach him Language, Knowledge, and Religion, when\nhe should obtain a very great reward and a nearer approach unto God.\n\nSo _Asal_ began to teach him to speak, first by showing him particular\nthings, and pronouncing their names, and by repeating them often unto\nhim he made him to pronounce them again, which he presently did, until\nhe had taught him all names, and so by degrees he advanced him so far\nthat he could speak in a very short time.\n\n\n_Hayy enlightens Asal on his Inner Life._\n\nThen _Asal_ began to interrogate him concerning his condition, and from\nwhence he had come into that Island. But _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, in his\nreply, told him that he knew nothing of his own origin, nor of any\nfather or mother that he had, but only that Roe that brought him up.\n\nThen he described to him his whole state and manner of living, from\nbeginning to end, and what progress he had made in knowledge, until he\nhad attained to that degree of conjunction with God.\n\nThen _Asal_ heard from him the declaration of those truths which he\nrelated, of those essences which are separated from the sensible world\nand which have the knowledge of the _Essence_, of that _True One_--the\nAlmighty and Glorious--and heard him give an account of the _Essence_ of\nthat _True One_--the Almighty and Glorious--with all his attributes, and\nhad described to him as far as it was possible for him to describe that\nwhich he had witnessed when he had reached the joys of those that are\njoined unto God, and the torments and griefs of those that are separated\nfrom him.\n\n_Asal_ then had no doubt but that all those things which were delivered\nin his law, concerning the commandment of that Almighty and Glorious\nGod, his angels and books, his messengers and the last day, Paradise and\nHell--all these were resemblances of what _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ had seen.\nAnd the eyes of his heart were opened, and his mind was enlightened,\nwhen he saw that the things which he apprehended and discerned by\nreason, and that which he had received by tradition (\"the Original and\nthe Copy\"), agreed very well together. And now the ways of mystical\ninterpretation became easy unto him, nor was there anything difficult or\nremained dark of those precepts which he had received that was not now\nquite plain and perspicuous.\n\nIn this way his intellectual faculty grew strong and vigorous, and he\nbegan to look upon _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ with such admiration and respect\nthat he greatly reverenced him, and assured himself that he was _one of\nthe Saints of God, such as were not molested with any fear upon them,\nand who shall not suffer through pain_. (Koran.)\n\nThereupon he made himself ready to wait upon him, to imitate him, and to\nfollow his admonitions in the performance of such works as did occur\nunto him, in those legal things which formerly he had learned in his\nreligion.\n\n\n_Asal tells Hayy of the Island from whence he had come._\n\nThen _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ began to enquire of him concerning his condition\nand his manner of living, and _Asal_ gave him an account of the state\nof that Island from whence he had come--what kind of people inhabited\nit, and what sort of life they led before that religious sect which we\nmentioned came among them, and how it was now, since his coming\nthereinto.\n\nHe also gave him an account of all those things that were delivered in\nthe law, concerning the description of the divine world, of Paradise and\nthe fire of Hell (Gehenna), of the awakening and resurrection of\nmankind, of their gathering unto Judgment, of the account then to be\ngiven up, of the scales wherein the actions of men should be weighed,\nand the way through which they were to pass.\n\nNow, _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ understood very well all those things, nor did\nhe perceive that any of them were unsuitable to that which he had seen\nwhen in that exalted condition; and he knew that he who had described\nthose things and delivered them unto men, was true in so declaring them,\nand that in these his sayings he was a true and faithful messenger sent\nfrom God. And he believed him and acknowledged the truth thereof and\nbore testimony to his mission.\n\nThen he began to ask him concerning the precepts which the messenger of\nGod had delivered and the rites of worship which he had ordained. Thus\n_Asal_ told him of _Prayer_, _Alms_, _Fasting_, and _Pilgrimage_, and\nthe like external works: which he received and practised, and took upon\nhim the performance thereof, in obedience to that command of the\nLawgiver, being persuaded and assured of the truth and faith of him who\ndelivered the same. Notwithstanding, there were _two things_ that fixed\nthemselves into his mind which he wondered at, neither could he perceive\nwherein the wisdom thereof consisted.\n\nOne of those two things was, why this messenger of God, in describing\nmost things that relate to the divine world, used to express them unto\nmen by parables of similitudes and abstained from a clear unfolding\nthereof, which caused a good many men to fall into that error by\naffirming corporeity in God and believing that to be something of that\n_Essence_ the _True One_, the Almighty and Glorious, from which,\nhowever, it is absolutely free, and in the same manner concerning those\nthings which relate to the rewards and punishments of a future world.\n\nThe other was why he did not proceed beyond those precepts and rites of\nworship, permitting men to seek after riches and the amassing of wealth,\nand to enjoy their liberty as to the matter of food: by which means they\nvainly delivered themselves unto vain things and turned themselves away\nfrom the truth. Whilst his judgment was that nothing ought to be taken\nfrom any; but only so much as may enable him to sustain the remainder of\nhis life. But as to riches, he considered them of no value at all.\n\nNow when he saw what was laid down and prescribed in the law concerning\nthose things that belonged to the employment of riches, namely alms, and\nthe distribution thereof and trading with them, also with regard to\nusury, mulcts, and punishments, these things seemed all very odd and\nuncouth unto him, and he judged them to be quite superfluous. For he\nsaid that if men would judge of the matter according to truth, they\nwould certainly withdraw themselves from those vain things, and only\nfollow the truth, so that all this would be quite superfluous, nor would\nany man challenge the property in riches as to have those dues exacted\nfrom him, or to cause his hands to be cut off for those things secretly\nstolen, or that lives should be destroyed by taking them away openly.\n\n\n_Hayy observes that men are dull, stupid and brutish._\n\nThis was what he thought; and that which put this opinion into his mind\nwas that he thought that all men were imbued with an ingenuous temper, a\npenetrating understanding, and a mind constant unto themselves. Nor did\nhe know how stupid and dull they were, how ill advised and how\ninconstant in their resolutions; so much so that they were entirely like\nbrutes, even more apt than they to wander out of the way.\n\nTherefore, since he was greatly affected with pity towards mankind, and\nanxiously desired that he might be an instrument in their salvation, a\nresolution entered into his mind of going over to them that he might be\nable to unfold and lay before them the truth of things. This desire he\ntherefore made known to his companion _Asal_, and asked whether he could\nfind out any way whereby he could come unto them and discourse with\nthem.\n\n\n_Asal persuades Hayy to follow him to his Island._\n\n_Asal_, on the other hand, told him what sort of people they were--how\nmuch lacking in ingenuousness, and how averse from obeying the\ncommandments of God. But _Hayy_ could not understand this; and his mind\nwas intent upon that which he hoped to compass. _Asal_ also greatly\ndesired that it would please God, by his means, to direct some of his\nacquaintances which were of a more pliable temper and more easily to be\nguided than the rest, and not so far distant from sincerity as the\nothers, into the right way. Thus he was ready to support the design of\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_.\n\n\n_Hayy and Asal return together to Asal's Island._\n\nThereupon they resolved to betake themselves unto the seashore, nor to\ndepart thence either by day or night till God should please to afford\nthem an opportunity of crossing the sea. And always they were intent\nupon this thing, and continued with their prayers and supplications to\nGod to direct them in this work and bring it to a successful issue.\n\nAt last it came to pass, by the commandment of God, the Almighty and\nGlorious, that the winds and waves drove a ship that had lost its course\nto the shore of that Island. And as it drew nearer unto the land, they\nwho were in it, seeing two men upon the shore, made towards them. Then\n_Asal_ bespeaking them, expressed the desire that they should carry them\nwith them; they readily acquiesced therein, took them both into the\nship; and it pleased God to send them a fair wind, which in a very short\ntime conveyed them unto the desired Island. There they landed and went\ninto the City.\n\nNow, the friends of _Asal_ all gathered round him, and he gave them an\naccount of _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_. Whereupon they flocked together from\nevery side, surrounding him with reverence and admiration. Then _Asal_\ntold him that this sect was superior in understanding and sharpness of\ncomprehension to all others, so that if he were not able to instruct\nthem in the truth and work upon them, there was much less hope that he\nwould be able to teach the ordinary lot of men.\n\n\n_Hayy begins to teach and instruct Salaman's subjects._\n\nNow the Sovereign and Prince of that Island was _Salaman_ the friend of\n_Asal_, of whom we have given an account above. He was the one who\nthought it best to join and apply himself to human society, and\nconsidered it unlawful to give himself over to solitude. Therefore _Hayy\nIbn Yokdhan_ began to instruct them and to explain the mysteries of\nwisdom unto them. But when he began, and had proceeded a little beyond\nthat which was plain and obvious to them, and began to inculcate that\nwhich was quite contrary to their notions deeply rooted in their minds,\nthey began to withdraw themselves from him, and their minds abhorred\nfrom what he spoke. And inwardly in their hearts they were very angry\nwith him, though in his presence they made a great show of kindness,\nboth because he was a stranger and out of regard to his friend Asal.\n\n\n_Hayy despairs of being able to reform the vulgar crowd._\n\n_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_, however, continued day and night to deal gently with\nthem and manifest the truth both in private and public, which only\nincreased their hatred towards him and made them avoid his company;\nthough otherwise they were lovers of that which is good, and desirous of\nthe truth. But from that defect in their nature, they did not search for\nit in the right manner nor apprehend it as they should do: but sought\nthe knowledge of it after the common way, like the rest of the world,\nafter the vulgar fashion: so in the end he despaired of reforming them,\nand lost all hope of bringing them unto a better condition which was\nless acceptable unto them, because he perceived they were not willing to\naccept what he taught them.\n\n\n_Hayy's philosophical views on the value of this world._\n\nAnd afterwards looking round about him and reviewing the several ranks\nand orders, degrees and conditions of men, he found that every sect and\ncompany of them rejoiced in those things which they had and possessed at\npresent, and that their lusts and appetites were their God, and that\nthey destroyed and lost themselves by gathering together the trifles and\nvanities of the world, the eager desire of getting them into their\nhands still captivating and blinding them until they tottered to their\ngraves; and that no good counsel prevailed upon them, and that disputing\nwith them had only the effect of making them the more obstinate. As to\nwisdom, they had no way open to it or access thereto, nor did any\nportion thereof belong unto them. \"For folly has wholly overwhelmed\nthem, and what they eagerly sought after has corrupted their hearts as\nrust; God has sealed up their hearts and ears, a thick mist is before\ntheir eyes, and a sore punishment awaits them.\" (Koran.)\n\nThus he saw that they were encompassed within the cauldrons of\npunishment and covered over with the darkness of a veil, and that all of\nthem--a few only excepted--minded their religion no otherwise than with\nrespect to the world, and cast the observance of religious performances\nbehind their backs, and made little or no account thereof, and that\nmerchandise and trading took up their minds and diverted them from\nthinking upon God, so that they had \"no fear of that day in which both\ntheir hearts and eyes shall be turned round\" (Koran)--continually\nemployed about their worldly affairs. When he saw all this, it was\napparent to him, and he held it for certain, that it was impossible for\nhim to speak unto them to any purpose, and that it was not expedient\nthat any works should be enjoined unto them beyond this measure, and\nthat the greatest benefit which accrued to the common sort of men by the\nlaw was wholly in relation to their life in this world, namely, that the\ncourse and manner of their life, whilst they continued here, should\nproceed on in good order, so that none of them should be injurious to\nanother in the things which he may call his own; he saw that none of\nthem attain unto the felicity of another world but some very few, viz.\nthose who prepare themselves to that world and rightly endeavour to\nattain to the same; that is, such as believe and follow the truth: but\n\"to him that erred from the truth, and prefers the life of the present\nworld before it, Hell shall be his place of habitation.\" (Koran.)\n\nAnd what labour can be greater, and what misery more grievous, than his\nwho works, if you well observe, from the time he awakes till he goes to\nsleep again; there will not be found so much as one amongst them who\ndoes anything but what tends to the attaining of some one or other of\nthese vile sensible things that are of no value, to wit, either\nriches--to heap them up, or pleasure which he may take, or lust whereby\nto satisfy his mind, or wrath and revenge whereby he may satisfy his\nmind, or power whereby to defend himself, or some outward work commanded\nby the law, whereof he may make a vain-glorious show or whereby he may\ncare to save his neck? \"Now all these are darkness upon darkness in the\ndeep sea: nor is there any of you who doth not go in thither: for such\nis the unchangeable decree of the Lord.\" (Koran.)\n\nWhen, therefore, he understood the state and condition of men to be such\nas this, and seeing that most of them might be justly ranked amongst\nunreasonable creatures--were, in fact, like brute beasts--he knew that\nall wisdom, discretion and success was grounded on and consisted in\nthat which the messengers of God spoke and the law delivered, and that\nthere was no other rule possible, and that there could be nothing added\nto it, and that these were men appointed to every work, and every one\nwas mostly capable of that thing unto which he was ordained by nature:\nand that the law of God was the same unto those that had gone away\nbefore, neither was there any change in the law of God.\n\n\n_Hayy gives up his Preachings and Teachings._\n\nWhereupon, returning to _Salaman_ and his companions, he craved pardon\nfor those things that he had spoken amongst them and desired to be\nexcused, and told them that he was of the same opinion with them, and\nwent on in the same way and persuaded them to stick firmly to their\nresolution of respecting and following the customs of the law and the\nperformance of the external rites without intruding themselves upon\nthings that did not concern them or intermeddling therewith, that in\ndoubtful things they should give credit and yield a ready assent to\nthose rules that they had of old received: that they should be averse to\nnovel opinions and to their appetites, and follow the examples of their\ngood Forbears, and leave novelties severely alone.\n\nHe also commanded that they should shun and avoid that neglect of the\nlaws that is seen in the vulgar sort of men, and the love of the world,\nand this he specially bade them to take heed of: for he and his friend\n_Asal_ well knew that there was no salvation to this weak, tractable,\nand defective sort of men but by this means; and that if they were\nforced away and raised above this to curious speculations, their\ncondition would be much worse, so much so that it would be impossible\nfor them to obtain the state and degree of the Blessed; but that they\nwould be wavering in their motives, and tossed up and down, and at last\nmeet with a bad end. But if they remained in that state of things in\nwhich they were till death overtook them, they should obtain salvation\nand should be placed amongst those that are on the right hand. But, on\nthe other side, as for those who had gone before and outwent them, those\ncame near unto them: yet these came next after and approached near to\nthem.\n\n\n_Asal and Hayy return to their Island._\n\nThus _Asal_ and _Hayy_, after this admonitory talk, having bid farewell\nto Prince Salaman and his people, took leave of them and waited for an\nopportunity of returning to their own Island, till at length it pleased\nGod, the Almighty and Glorious, to afford them a commodious passage\nthither. And _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ endeavoured to attain to his lofty state\nof speculation in the same manner as formerly, until he attained\nthereto: and _Asal_ followed his steps till he came near him or was not\nfar therefrom. So they continued worshipping God in that Island until\ndeath seized upon them.\n\n\n\n\n_Epilogue of the Author._\n\n\nAnd this is that--God help thee and us by his spirit--which we have\nreceived of the history of _Hayy Ibn Yokdhan_ and _Asal_ and _Salaman_.\n\nIn its setting down we have made such choice of words as are not found\nin any other book nor accustomed to be heard in common and vulgar\nspeech. And it is part of that hidden knowledge which no man receives\nbut he who has the knowledge of God; nor is any man ignorant of it, but\nthose that have not the right knowledge of God. We have indeed followed\na method quite contrary to that of our good Forbears, as to their\nkeeping secret these matters and their sparingness of divulging them.\nBut the reason that readily persuaded us to divulge this secret, and to\nbreak through this veil, was, these evil opinions which have risen up in\nthis our time, the corrupt notions which are being devised by some\npretenders to philosophy in this world, so that they are dispersed and\ndiffused into various regions, and the mischief and evil arising\ntherefrom has grown epidemical. So that we are solicitous on behalf of\nthe weak--who have rejected what they received by tradition from the\nProphets of blessed memory and make choice of that which is delivered\nthem by foolish men--lest they should think those opinions to be a\nsecret that ought to be kept from them who are not capable thereof, and\nthis should increase their desire after them, and would awake a more\neager appetite after them.\n\nTherefore, it seemed good to us to give them a glimpse of this secret of\nsecrets, whereby we may lead them into the way of truth and divert them\nfrom that wrong path.\n\nNevertheless, we have not committed the secrets that are comprehended in\nthese leaves as to leave them without a thin veil which will be easily\nunveiled by those who are capable of understanding them, but shall be so\nthick and gross to those who are unworthy to go further on and pass\nbeyond it, that it will be impossible for him to pierce through it.\n\nAnd now, I crave pardon of those of my brethren as shall read this\ntreatise, that they would excuse me with regard to those things which I\nhave so readily declared and so freely described. For I would not have\ndone this, unless I had been carried and elevated to such heights as\ntranscend the reach of human sight, which cannot attain thereunto. I\nendeavoured to render my discourse easy to be understood, by fitly\nplacing and ordering its parts so that I might stir up in men a keen\ndesire to enter into the right way. But I crave of the Lord pardon and\nforgiveness, and that He will please to bring us to the true and certain\nknowledge thereof. For he is bounteous and liberal of His favours. Peace\nbe to thee, my brother, whose promotion is decreed, and the mercy and\nblessing of God come upon thee.\n\n=Praise be unto God alone.=\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._\n\n\n\n\nTHE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES\n\nEdited by L. CRANMER-BYNG and Dr. S. A. KAPADIA\n\nTHE SERIES AND ITS PURPOSE\n\n\nThe object of the Editors of this Series is a very definite one. 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Some diacritical\n  marks, particularly in the advertisements, have been omitted (e.g. u\n  with breve) or altered (e.g. a with macron changed to a with acute).\n\n  Footnotes have been moved to the ends of the paragraphs to which they\n  refer.\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"The Awakening of the Soul","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":21286}