Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Attitude Toward Christianity 435
tion of the Koran,^58 and a large number of other passages in the Hidāyat
al-ḥayārā make this assumption seem very plausible.^59
3. Ibn al-Qayyim’s Depiction and Refutation
of Christianity in the Hidāyat al-ḥayārā
Since every terminology already implies valuations, as is well known,
it is appropriate to cast a glance at the various designations applied to
Christians in the Hidāyat al-ḥayārā. Three tendencies can be made
out: first, to a limited extent, Ibn al-Qayyim uses primarily neutral
expressions to refer to Christians, like the Koranic term for Christians,
naṣārā,^60 and the umbrella term ahl al-kitāb,^61 which, it is notewor-
thy, includes in his case along with Christians only Jews (in accor-
dance with his diction, which has a very broad interpretation of the
term zanādiqa – understood as the religious communities that pos-
sess no revealed scripture.^62 In one passage of the Hidāyat al-ḥayārā,
Ibn al-Qayyim even concedes that the ahl al-kitāb are to be preferred
to the zanādiqa,^63 among whom he groups not only idolators (ʿubbād
al-awthān) and devil worshippers, but also Zoroastrians, Sabians,
and finally the “unbelieving philosophers” (malāḥidat al-falāsifa).^64
However, he immediately relativises the dichotomy in the non-Mus-
lim religious communities between the ahl al-kitāb and zanādiqa and
notes that, just like the latter, Jews and Christians were definitely to be
regarded as adherents of false religions.^65 In view of the doctrines and
practices that the Hidāyat al-ḥayārā presents as constitutive of Chris-
tianity, Ibn al-Qayyim also – and much more frequently – refers to
Christians with simple, denigrating epithets like “tritheists” or “trini-
tarians” (muthallitha),^66 “Cross worshippers” (ʿubbād aṣ-ṣalīb)^67 or
58 Ibid., p. 315.
59 For a discussion of the actual reasons for the composition of the Hidāyat
al-ḥayārā, see also Hoover, The Apologetic and Pastoral Intentions, pp. 479–482.
60 See, for instance, ibid., p. 236.
61 See, for instance, ibid., p. 227.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid., p. 228.
65 Ibid., p. 229.
66 See, for example, ibid., p. 491.
67 See, for example, ibid., p. 537.
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