"Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and Its individual and Collective Implications

The symbolic novel of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan ("Hayy", meaning alive, as a symbol for intellect and "Yaqdhan", meaning awake, for God) has been narrated in such a way that it allows for various and even different interpretations. Some interpretations can be summarized as follows: a) the affirmation of the eternity of man's intellective soul; b) dual theorization about the beginning of man's creation; c) the study of the relationship between individual and society and theorizing that individual is the origin of society; and d) the description of man’s solitude and exile. The last two interpretations are based on a comparison between Ibn Tufail’s (Avempace) “Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” and Ibn Bajjah’s "Tadbir al-Motavahid". In the last interpretation, man is a lost being in this world who tries to find himself. If man can find himself, he will be able to reach the final and complete stages of humanity. The important point in Hayy ibn Yaqdhan narrative is that in his search for himself, man attains things that all have social aspects: imitating sounds and coining words, inventing clothes, providing accommodation, preparing defensive tools and instruments like club and spear, utilizing domestic animals, discovering fire and using it for cooking and other purposes, realizing the importance of limbs and organs, and dissecting them, and finally understanding the key role of heart in body which can be regarded as a metaphor for the presence of leader and the necessity of a ruler in society. Using a philosophical analysis method, focusing on the interpretation of the novel of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, and comparing it with the novel of Salaman and Absal, the present paper seeks to describe man's exile and discuss its social aspects