Ibn Tufail
In the 12th Century, Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were the pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first Arabic novel, "Hayy ibn Yaqdhan", or "Philosophus Autodidactus" ("The Self-Taught Philosopher"), as a response to al-Ghazali's "The Incoherence of the Philosophers". Ibn al-Nafis then wrote his novel "Theologus Autodidactus" ("The Self-Taught Theologian") in response to Ibn Tufail’s work. The protagonists of both these narratives were feral children (Hayy in "Philosophus Autodidactus" and Kamil in "Theologus Autodidactus") who were autodidactic (self-taught) and living in seclusion on a desert island. These works are the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story, Kamil's story extends beyond the desert island setting, developing into the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.