The World of Ibn Tufayl ─ Interdisciplinary Studies on Hayy Ibn Yaqzan

The World of Ibn Tufayl consists of ten essays by scholars in different fields in Arab-Islamic studies on Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan, one of the most extraordinary works of medieval Arabic literature, and a text with important dimensions in social and intellectual history, literature, mysticism, philosophy, medicine and science. Most of the essays were presented at a groundbreaking conference at the Wellcome Institute in London, which marked the first attempt at a critical assessment of any medieval Arabic text by drawing together scholars from widely varying fields. The studies cast light on numerous aspects of social and intellectual life in North Africa and Spain in medieval Islamic times, and explore important aspects of the textual intercommunication between author and audience.

Lawrence I. Conrad, Ph.D. (1981) in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, is Historian of Near Eastern Medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London. He has published extensively on various aspects of Arab-Islamic history.