Ibne Tufail’s philosophical and mystical rationalization of the existence of God
What exactly is God? A question that has plagued millions of people throughout history and is still recognized as crucial to the meaning of existence. The religion of Egypt was polytheistic. The term “god” refers to a considerably broader spectrum of entities than the monotheistic religions’ deities. The gods were neither all-powerful nor all-knowing, as is virtually required for polytheism. Most gods were generally good, but their favour could never be guaranteed. Greek and Roman mythology were likewise built on the same ideas. Monotheistic faiths, on the other hand, give an exceptionally fine and unique argument to define God. In their theology, God is the source of all activity and consequence.
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Cicero, Ibne Sina, Ghazali, and Ibne Tufayl all attempted to express the notion of God in their distinct philosophies, and each supported or rejected it in their own manner. Their work is now regarded as one of the most influential works on God’s philosophy. We will look at the logical and mystical grounds for God’s existence in Ibne Tufayl’s novel, Hayy Iben Yaqzan (the account of an autodidactic feral child). In this work, Ibn Tufayl creates a logical and metaphysical framework for the existence of God. Ibn Tufail’s Hayy Ibn Yaqzan is one of the best-known and most influential philosophical works of the Middle Ages. Ibn Tufayl’s philosophy is based on the idea that the universe is self-organizing and self-sustaining and that the universe has a purpose.
The book gives four easily visible pieces of evidence for God’s existence. The first is the existence of the universe. The second is the fact that the universe exists. The third is the fact of life. The fourth is the existence and purpose of life. Cosmological proofs, arguments based on the absence of a necessary relationship between causes and consequences, arguments for the origin and eternity of the world, and evidence-based intuition are all examples of this. The first three are linked, and the remaining logic is dependent on the logic of the first cause. One main proof states that the first cause is stronger than the second, which leads to the conclusion that, in any event where two causes lead to a result and one cause is greater than the other, it is impossible for both causes to be equal.
Cosmological proof can be gleaned in its essence from Ibn Tufayl’s observations on the nature of generation and corruption in the phenomenal world. The nature of change, as observed by Hayy, is the beginning point of this proof. Hayy examined how events in nature are generated and concluded that everything must have a reason. Everything has a beginning: events, bodies, and their essence. They appear for an abbreviated time and then vanish. Hayy examined the nature of items he was familiar with one by one and discovered that they were all “created and all must have a reason”; every event in nature has a reason. This cause is either contingent or non-contingent; contingent means it is caused by something else that is not mentioned.
Moreover, when we investigate the origin of one body, we assume that another body is that which created it. As a result, natural facts will always require a creator. However, we cannot rationally progress to infinity as a sequence of contingent entities creating one another; otherwise, we will slip into an infinite regression with no base case. As a result, the chain of causes and consequences must lead to a cause whose essence necessitates its existence, which Ibn Tufayl refers to as a necessary entity. “Nothing can exist without him; he is the source of everything, and everything is his consequence.” (Cyrus Ali Zargar). Ibn Tufayl uses the metaphor of a chain to describe the interconnectedness of things. This creature is a nonphysical entity. All that cannot be comprehended by the sense organs but can be grasped by discursive reasoning is the primary cause. He has no external cause for his existence, once again. He is the Necessary Existent Being, which implies he supplies a reasonable assurance that other beings exist (Hawi).
This is Ibn Tufayl’s argument for the first cause, safely reconstructed from the treatise. This argument can be condensed to the following: If anything exists and is in the process of generation and corruption, it must be contingent upon a necessary being that must exist. Hayy observed that many things exist and are in constant generation and corruption. Therefore, an Absolute Necessary Being according to Hayy must exist.
The second argument from the absence of causal connection is linked to and may overlap with the cosmological proof. This argument is also based on Hayy’s observation of objects’ constantly changing identities, whether in shape or nature. He wondered what causes matter to take on a new shape. Every fact or body is indistinguishable from another in terms of substance. Hayy recognized that the emerging shape, which empirically cannot be shown to exist in antecedent components or the forms of bodies creating them, endows the newly formed entities with their distinctive essence and specific purpose in the process of change and recurrent occurrences. All Hayy saw was the arrival of a novel body accompanied by a novel shape, resulting in novel behaviours emanating from that body (Cyrus Ali Zargar).
Hayy’s perceptual field was devoid of the force that created this innovative shape; it lacked a rational foundation. He saw that fire and the sun have the ability to melt ice. However, he never saw the fire or sun doing what they purported to accomplish, nor did he witness the ice being acted upon. Again, Ibn Tufayl claims that one may only observe a body devoid of certain traits and, subsequently, a body endowed with other attributes; yet, the required link or causal power is empirically lacking. Because one can only observe bodies devoid of certain traits, we describe such a process by simply stating that a body is predisposed to perform particular duties.
The body cannot be the source of these functions since it lacks sensitivity and such attributes have no fundamental relationship to the body. Furthermore, how can a shape be created or transformed into a new form? According to Ibn Tufayl, no material item initiates motion, and no shape may change to another on empirical grounds. As a result, there must be a necessary disembodied entity who is the efficient cause and the guarantor of uniformity and order among bodies and shapes in this cosmos. All things are created by God, and all things are acted upon by God (Hawi).
This evidence is restricted to the following: as long as experience fails to reveal a generating power and a necessary relationship between natural occurrences, the only logical next step is to posit a being who is the source of all power in the universe (Hawi).
The Argument from the Creation and Eternity of the World is connected to the first cause argument. Ibn Tufayl demonstrates here that whether we consider the universe to be created or eternal, the First Cause of all occurrences is the same in both circumstances. He initially assumes the universe’s novelty and then tries to deduce the ramifications of such a notion. He demonstrates that there is a logical progression between cause and effect. He deduces that if the universe is eternal, then it must have been created by God. If the universe is created, then God must have created it.
According to Ibn Tufayl, the cosmos could not have come into being on its own ex nihilo. Its existence must, by definition, be a productive element. This element cannot be a body because its nature and destiny would be material items, requiring a producer. If this producer were corporeal, it would require a third, fourth, and so on indefinitely. As a result, the universe must have a non-corporeal cause. Because it is not corporeal, it cannot be seen by the senses, and as a result, it surpasses all sensible properties. Since the universe does not need anything in order to exist, it does not require a material cause to explain its existence (Hawi).
Alternatively, if we assume that the world is eternal, then it implies that its motion is also eternal, that it never began and never began from rest. Everything is in motion and will remain in motion for eternity. In an analogous way, if you assume that eternity is infinite, it can be argued that the universe had no beginning and will have no end. Every motion now necessitates the use of an agent, a force that brings the motion into the body. This mover can be moved by external causes (the body), by itself, or by a non-diffusible power in physical things. However, a force that exists in material objects, like other corporeal beings, must be divisible and so finite, because all bodies in the world are finite (Hawi).
A narrow cause, such as the everlasting motion of the world, cannot generate an endless result. That is against the very law of nature; it is impossible for infinite amounts of effort (the power of nature) to be extracted from finite amounts of energy. The power that drives the planet and celestial bodies must not be distributed in any physical body but must be created by an immaterial being with perfect awareness of and control over the cosmos. By establishing two proofs (one continuous and one restricted), the argument allows only one conclusion: if a god exists, then that god must possess omniscience, omnipotence, and immortality.
Proof of intuition and mystical elevation is entirely subjective. However, the author believes that its conclusions are the most definite, vivid, and truthful. According to Ibn Tufayl, intuition, as a technique of knowing God, verifies the earlier evidence and exceeds it to the comprehension of God himself (Hawi). In other words, subjectivism emphasizes the outcomes of the naturalistic approach. From the outset, Ibn Tufayl calls his work Al-Hayy (The Living), but he prefers “Abrahat Al-Hayat” (Proof of Life).
In essence, Ibn Tufayl informs us that a man who abstains from worldly pleasures, organizes his subjective household, and focuses all his inwardness on the Primary Source of all things, undergoes a decisive subjective metamorphosis and comes face to face with God. Ibn Tufayl explains that by using virtues such as abstinence, organization, and concentration on God’s Primary Source, a man will discover the Primary Source and undergo a decisive metamorphosis. The figurative view of Him that man obtains in the phenomenal world through his reason leads to a thorough and direct encounter with the fundamental cause of all being and positions him right in the heart of reality. The metaphorical figure of Him that man obtains in the phenomenal world through his reason leads to a thorough and direct encounter with the fundamental cause of all being and positions him right in the heart of reality. The phenomenal world is rejected, as is suspended reason. “There is nothing left but the one, real, eternally self-sustaining Being.” (Cyrus Ali Zargar). According to Ibn Tufayl, such proof is superior to others and cannot be articulated propositionally. It can only be intuited, and this is the only way to know God, for God cannot be known by the senses.
Ibn Tufayl is convincingly methodical in his treatment of the issues of God’s existence and his attributes. He insists that before knowing what God is, one must establish that he is. However, in grounding the proposition, “God is,” a partial cognizance of the meaning of “What God is.” is attained. Ibn Tufayl already disclosed four basic attributes of God; he is immaterial, non-contingent, self-caused, and a logical guarantee for the existence of other entities. However, he did not explain the meaning of these attributes, and he did not give a complete account of God’s nature (Hawi). While Ibn Tufayl does not explain the meaning of God’s attributes, he makes it clear that God is a powerful being and that he is the creator of the universe. He also makes it clear in his book that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe and that he has no equal.
Reference
Cyrus Ali Zargar. The Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism. Oneworld Academic, 2017.
Hawi, Sami S. “Ibn Ṭufayl: On the Existence of God and His Attributes.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 95, no. 1, 1975, pp. 58–67, https://doi.org/10.2307/599158.
