Ibn al-Qayyim’s Kitāb al-Rūḥ 127
be found in the Kitāb al-Rūḥ of Ibn al-Ḳ aiyim al-Djawzīya [...] its influ-
ence has not been simply among Ḥanbalites and Wahhābites.^6Cooke puts it this way: “Ibn al-Qaiyim’s view of al-rūḥ and al-nafs is
important, for it represents the belief of the great majority of Muslims
to the present day.”^7
It seems, then, that the concerns of scholarship have come full circle,
at least for some, or in some way. Macdonald and Cooke were inter-
ested primarily in understanding the contemporary Muslim mind, if I
may phrase it that way. Indeed, Macdonald caps his essay with some
observations, and impassioned pleas, about the situation in his own
day.^8 He opines that the “nexus of ideas and hypotheses” found in the
authors covered in his study – some 25 in addition to Ibn al-Qayyim
- represent “the creative religious thought of Islam.” However, this
thought “must fight for its life against western influences in education
and general civilization which are specifically non-philosophical or
materialistic and mechanical in their philosophy.” Moreover, another,
even more pernicious element from the West has entered into the fray:
“modern spiritism.” Macdonald bemoans the fact that Islam, unlike
the West, is not endowed with any such “preliminary prejudice against
spiritual manifestations as exists with us.” Hence the danger that spir-
itism may latch on to the type of ghost stories found, i. a., in the book
of Ibn al-Qayyim, and gain thereby legitimacy among Muslims.
For many decades after the appearance of these two studies, it seems
that western scholarship on Islamic thought abandoned the concerns
expressed by Macdonald and Cooke; research was motivated by an
intrinsic interest in the history and transmission of philosophical, reli-
gious, and scientific thought, without any abiding worry about “under-
standing” Muslims or Islam. In recent years, all that has changed, for
better or for worse.
2. Manuscripts and Epitomes
Kitāb al-Rūḥ has never been properly edited. The many printings, as
far as I can tell, all derive from the original Hyderabad issue. It is not
known which manuscript was used for that version; the manuscripts
6 Macdonald, The Idea of Spirit, p. 318.
7 Cooke, Ibn al-Qaiyim’s Kitāb al-Rūḥ, p. 129.
8 Macdonald, The Idea of Spirit, p. 349.
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