In Avicenna and the Visionary Recital, Henry Corbin argues that no philosophical connection exists between Avicenna’s epistle Hayy ibn Yaqz?n and Ibn Tufayl’s philosophical allegory that bears the same name. This paper will challenge this thesis by showing that both treatises put forward the thesis that true experience of the divine consists in the full actualization of human nature and that the essence of human nature consists in hermeneutics (ta’w?l). The first part of the paper, in line with Henry Corbin’s thesis, suggests that Avicenna metaphorically uses physiognomy to refer to interpretation. In turn, interpretation in this context refers to interpreting the universal forms thought by the intellect in relation to the world of sense of experience. This thesis will be reinforced through a brief examination of the Bird Recital and the Recital of Salm?n and Abs?l. To further underpin this thesis the discussion turns to Avicenna’s argument regarding the connection between physics and metaphysics. As Gutas argues, Avicenna criticized Aristotle’s metaphysics because its arguments were based on the principle of motion, the principle of physics. Proper metaphysics has to be strictly separated from the domain of physics. But there must be a link between physics and metaphysics or the separable and inseparable parts of the soul. The paper argues that this link consists in interpretation (ta‘w?l). Through interpretation humanity is fulfilled by harmonizing the physical and metaphysical dimensions of the soul. The second part of the paper turns to Ibn Tufayl’s version of Hayy ibn Yaqz?n. It first shows how Ibn Tufayl combines both Platonic and Aristotelian motifs in his account of Hayy’s discovery of the necessary existent or God and the possibility of communion with Him. The discussion then poses a question with regards to language. Hayy who emerges in a sequestrated setting on a deserted island arrives at all of these metaphysical truths in the complete absence of language and its logical structure. The argument will thereby be made that Hayy achieved ultimate experience of the necessary existent through the actualization of his essence as a human. Through an examination of the text, it will be shown that this essence is the hermeneutical essence delineated by Avicenna.