  This philosophical tale further complicates the question of Ibn Ezra’s doctrinal allegiances. Issues such as the structure of the soul or the contours of union with the divine, which are not treated systematically or uniformly elsewhere, cannot be fully harmonized with Ibn Ezra’s pronouncements elsewhere. Hayy is the only one of Ibn Ezra’s philosophical ventures that has no intrinsic connection to Judaism. Snippets of biblical verses are skillfully woven into Hayy, making the poem amenable to the Jewish reader and making it easier for the reader to answer the invitation—if one is indeed extended—to join the excursion under Hayy’s guidance. On the other hand, the ritual immersion in the nude that the narrator performs, while not totally foreign to Judaism, must have seemed to carry Christian overtones to some readers. It should be borne in mind that Ibn Ezra wrote Hayy at the request of Samuel Ibn Jami, a learned and philosophically inclined North African Jew, himself a poet. Is Hayy the response to a literary challenge?