Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Attitude Toward Christianity 451
As shown above, in his critique of both Christian rituals and prac-
tices Ibn al-Qayyim makes use primarily of two argumentative pro-
cedures. First, he condemns them against the background of his own
vision of Jesus’ behavior, which he applies as a yardstick for Christian
religious conduct.^149 Second, he criticizes certain forms of Christian
religious practice with the remark that they are not based on right
divine guidance, but have arisen from human initiative with the pri-
mary goal of conforming with the customs and traditions of the envi-
ronment^150 or of dissociation from the Jews.^151 To be able to condemn
them, Ibn al-Qayyim also takes supplementary recourse to another
pattern of argumentation. This consists in taking the maxims of the
tawḥīd, which for him comprises professing belief in God and serving
God alone, as the sole criterion for judging Christian cult and belief.
Accordingly, religious doctrines and practices that he regards as fail-
ing to fulfill this criterion are condemned as a violation of the worship
of the one God, that is to say, as shirk. Ibn al-Qayyim makes use of
this argumentation, for example, when he rebukes the Christians for
idolatry. Thus, he unambiguously says that “pictures painted by hand
on walls”,^152 which dogs could urinate on when they approach them,
function as objects of veneration among the Christians. He claims
that they turn to the pictures with their pleas for forgiveness of sins,
for mercy, for livelihood, and for succor and that they approach them
with the utmost subservience, humility, and abasement.^153 With such
a depiction, the Damascene scholar attempts to create the impression
that the Christians do attribute a higher rank to images – his elucida-
tions do not make it clear whether he is here alluding to cult images
in the narrow sense – than to God, in that they show a veneration to
them that he regards as due God alone, and that they also turn to the
images with wishes and interests whose fulfillment lies solely in God’s
power.
149 Ibid., p. 485; see also p. 487.
150 Ibid.
151 Ibid., pp. 486–487.
152 Ibid., p. 343.
153 Ibid., p. 254.
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