IBN TUFAIL or TOFAIL [Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn `Abd-ul-Malik ibn Tufail ul-Qaisi (or to the Schoolmen, Abuba cer)] (d. 1185), Moslem philosopher, was born at Guadix near Granada. He was skilled in philosophy, mathematics and medi cine, and was a friend of Averroes. He became secretary to the governor of Granada, and later physician and vizier to the Mohad caliph, Abu Ya`qub Yusuf. He died at Morocco. His chief work, Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqztin, is a philosophical romance describing the awakening of philosophical knowledge in the intellect of a child removed from society.
See S. Munk, Melanges (1859) ; T. J. de Boer, Gesch. der Philosophie im Islam (Stuttgart, 1901) ; L. Gauthier, Ibn Thofa'il, sa vie, ses oeuvres (5909) ; Carra de Vaux, Les Penseurs de l'Islaur