Ibn al-Nafis composes the Theologus Autodidactus (Fadil ibn Natiq) at Cairo, c. 670/1270

ابن النفيس يصنّف «الرسالة الكاملية» (فاضل بن ناطق) بالقاهرة، نحو ٦٧٠هـ

c. 1270 CE · c. 670 AH

Cairo

At Cairo Ibn al-Nafis composed al-Risala al-Kamiliyya fi al-sira al-nabawiyya — the Theologus Autodidactus — an intellectual tour de force in which a solitary man called Kamil on a desert island deduces by abstract reasoning that the events of the Prophet ﷺ's life and the community's history, including the Mongol incursions of his own lifetime and even the physical appearance of the Muslim ruler — no doubt sultan Baybars — were the best things that could possibly have happened, ending with a naturalistic account of the Last Things 1; since it portrays the living Baybars (658–676 AH) the dating is placed approximately within his reign.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Egypt & Nile

In time

126012701280 c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Cairo

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Summary

At Cairo Ibn al-Nafis composed al-Risala al-Kamiliyya fi al-sira al-nabawiyya — the Theologus Autodidactus — an intellectual tour de force in which a solitary man called Kamil on a desert island deduces by abstract reasoning that the events of the Prophet's life and of the community's history were the best that could possibly have happened 1.

In the text

The treatise takes in the Mongol incursions of the author's own lifetime and the physical appearance of the Muslim ruler — no doubt sultan Baybars — and ends with a naturalistic account of the Last Things; since it portrays the living Baybars (658–676 AH) it is dated approximately within his reign 1.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Ibn al-Nafis
Occurred at
Cairo

People and things also explored

Death of Ibn al-Nafis at Cairo and his endowment of estate and books to the Mansuri maristan, 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 687/December 1288· Ibn al-Nafis becomes Chief Physician of Egypt and personal physician of Baybars, c. 658/1260· Ibn al-Nafis settles in Cairo and joins the Nasiri hospital, 633/1235· Completion of the Mansuri maristan in Cairo, 683/1284· Ibn al-Nafis· Cairo· Al-Azhar Mosque· Bab al-Futuh, Cairo

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 3 p. 898
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ibn al-Nafis composes the Theologus Autodidactus (Fadil ibn Natiq) at Cairo, c. 670/1270”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ibn-al-nafis-theologus-670/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Related

Death of Ibn al-Nafis at Cairo and his endowment of estate and books to the Mansuri maristan, 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 687/December 1288

Ibn al-Nafis died at Cairo on 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 687 (December 1288) aged about eighty — the Shadharat margin notes 'he was eighty-four' — and endowed his house, fortune and books to the Mansuri maristan; none like him came after. Al-Suwaydan relates that on his deathbed he refused the wine prescribed him as medicine, saying he would not meet God with wine in his body, and died at dawn on Friday.