Page:The History of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan.djvu/15

 INTRODUCTION

This little philosophical romance, one of the most interesting works of the Middle Ages, was written in Muhammadan Spain towards the end of the twelfth century.

Since the early days of Muslim conquest, when the Arabs tread their way along North Africa and in 711 crossed into Andalusia, those regions had seen the rise and fall of many Muslim states, varying in territorial extent and not of uniform doctrinal complexion. At the period we now speak of the puritanic Berber dynasty of Almohads dominates the whole stage, and Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, claiming the proud title Commander of the Faithful, second of his line, rules from his capital, the City of Morocco, over all North Africa, from the Atlantic shore to the borders of Egypt, as well as a large tract of Southern Spain. This empire he inherited from his father, 'Abd al-Mu'min, who had conquered it in his own lifetime in a series of brilliant campaigns lasting about thirty years, and most of it had been torn from the grasp of another great Berber house, the Almoravids. Except in the Balearic Islands the power of the 5