Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer)

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tufayl (c. 1105–1185 CE), born in Guadix near Granada, was a brilliant Andalusian polymath who served as chief vizier and royal physician to Almohad Caliph Abu Ya'qub Yusuf. He famously introduced young Ibn Rushd (Averroës) to the caliphal court to undertake his monumental commentaries on Aristotle.

Ibn Tufayl's eternal legacy rests on his philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan (*The Self-Taught Philosopher*). The story depicts a boy raised by a gazelle on an uninhabited equatorial island who, through progressive empirical observation and rational deduction, discovers the laws of physics, anatomy, cosmology, and the divine. The book profoundly shaped European thinkers including John Locke and Daniel Defoe.