Testimony and the epistemic problem of society in al-Risālat al-Kāmiliyya fī al-Sīrat al-Nabawiyya

This paper outlines some of the historical and epistemological themes of al-
Risālat al-Kāmiliyya fī al-Sīrat al-Nabawiyya (‘the Epistle of Kāmil on the life-story
of the Prophet’; henceforth, Risālat Kāmiliyya) by Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288) in the
context of discussions about testimony in Medieval Islamicate intellectual
milieus. The paper is divided into three parts.
The first one will offer a brief description of the place of testimony in Medieval
epistemic discussions, with some comparative elements. The second part
presents a short summary of Risālat Kāmiliyya’s close precedent, Ibn Ṭufayl’s
Risālat Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān, with some remarks on the role of testimony in its
epistemology. In the third part, Risālat Kāmiliyya’s original epistemic stance on
testimony will be examined and discussed, with some proposals about its
historical and philosophical significance.