Hayy ibn Yaqzan, by Ibn Tufayl
The 12th-century Muslim mystic Ibn Tufayl relates the story of a spontaneously generated child raised by a gazelle on a desert island, and the process by which he attains union with God through the naturally acquired art of mystic contemplation. At the heart of the story is a literal autopsy of a heart: when the gazelle who raised him dies, young Hayy seeks the source of her immense love for him by studying in detail the heart she described as the source of her love. This inquest launches Hayy on a journey of knowledge that leads to God.