علاقة حي بن يقظان لابن طفيل وروبنسون كروزو لدانييل ديفو: دراسة في التداين الأدبي والفكري The Relationship between Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe: A Study in Literary and Intellectual Indebtedness Section Articles

Abstract

Studying the process of literary and intellectual indebtedness in the treatise Hayy ibn Yaqzan requires examining its transformations within the Arab philosophical heritage, beginning with Ibn Sina, Ibn Tufayl, Suhrawardi, and Ibn al-Nafis, on the one hand, and its narrative within the vast world narrative heritage, on the other. Our research focuses on examining the treatise Hayy ibn Yaqzan by the Andalusian physician and philosopher Ibn Tufayl (581 AH – 1185 CE) in relation to the novel Robinson Crusoe by the English writer Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), which some critics consider the first English novel. The importance of this study lies, first, in the importance of the two works themselves, and, second, in the fact that the relationship between them represents a fundamental model of literary and intellectual exchange between Andalusian literature and world literature. Ibn Tufayl's story tells of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, who lives in an unknown forest, and nature is his best friend in his quest to find the true meaning of life. Daniel Defoe's story, described as a pioneering novel in English literature, revolves around a man thirsting for adventure who ultimately ends up on an uninhabited island, seeking survival on his own.

The purpose of this research is to explore the meanings of the two novels, written by authors from different cultural backgrounds, and to analyze the meanings based on an examination of the main character's relationship with the forces of nature, humans, animals, and issues of life and death, survival, reason, religion, and the spirit. The study examines the internal and external relationships between them, comparing the two works in terms of their intellectual, religious, and general human content, as well as their artistic form with its various elements: plot, characters, conflict, theme, setting, style, and point of view in the narrative. It has been written that Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe shares similarities with Ibn Tufayl's story Hayy ibn Yaqzan, found in Islamic culture. Therefore, this study examines and discusses some of the works that have addressed the relation between the two works, some of which confirm the relationship, while others deny it.

The study uses descriptive and analytical methods to critically examine and evaluate the relationship between the two works. It relies on the two texts as primary sources, as well as critical works produced on the relationship between them in both Arabic and English.

The study concludes by confirming this process of borrowing, as well as the original and creative aspects of both texts: Hayy ibn Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe. This research is open to discussion and modification, and perhaps some researchers may see in them what the researcher here does not.