The text begins with an Introduction by the author, Ibn Tufayl, in the form of a letter. Writing to a friend, Ibn Tufayl promises to explain the “oriental philosophy” described in the works of Avicenna, a prominent 10th-century Islamic philosopher who helped to introduce Aristotle’s writings into the Arabic intellectual tradition. Ibn Tufayl describes how many people strive to experience a state of divine ecstasy, but those who do find it impossible to describe the experience in words. Those who are wise do not attempt to speak about the sublime mental state they enter, but the less wise often compare it to being like God.

Ibn Tufayl recounts how many philosophers seek to learn divine truths by using logic and reason. He distinguishes the state he seeks to write about from this method, claiming that those who achieve divine ecstasy must rely on intuition. The text compares reason and intuition using the metaphor of a blind child who is able to learn everything that he needs to know about the world from listening and learning. However, if the child were suddenly granted the ability to see, the colors he would be able to perceive with his eyes would be a different form of knowledge than the colors he learned about from conversation.