Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s
Manipulation of Sufi Terms
Fear and Hope
Gino Schallenbergh
Introduction
The medieval Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) is
one of these authors whose work, centuries after his passing away, is still
visibly present in the libraries, religious bookshops and pavement book-
stalls of the modern Sunni Islamic world. Browsing through the literature
on offer in almost any bookstore in Cairo, Damascus or Jakarta, one can-
not fail to notice the presence of books such as the Kitāb al-Rūḥ, Ṭarīq al-
hijratayn and Madārij al-sālikīn. A possible explanation for the popularity
of his work is that Ibn Qayyim al- Jawziyya addressed the direct religious
concerns of the faithful in a style that is accessible to all. He seemed to
have been aware that the Muslim community needs concepts and ideas
that give due place to the emotions and religious sensations that are felt by
the believers. He accepted the Sufi heritage in as far as it did not clash with
revealed religion, but tried to elaborate a spiritual language that stays close
to Koran and Sunna. Holy scripture held for him the reliable elements that
are needed to develop a religious life that keeps God’s laws intact and at
the same time gives full satisfaction to the spiritual needs of the faithful.
As with the discussions on Ibn Taymiyya’s alleged Sufism one can raise
the question if Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya was a Sufi or identified him-
self as such. After the publication of George Makdisi’s article in 1973 in
which he advanced the thesis that Ibn al-Qayyim’s master Ibn Taymiyya
(d. 728/1328) belonged to the Qādiriyya brotherhood, many similar
statements have been made to the effect that Ibn Taymiyya, notwith-
standing his virulent attacks on formal Sufism, was a Sufi himself.^1 About
1 Makdisi, George: Ibn Taymīya. A Ṣūfī of the Qādiriya Order, in: The American
Journal of Arabic Studies 1 (1973), pp. 118–290. We reported some statements
on Ibn Taymiyya’s pretended Sufism in Schallenbergh, Gino: Intoxication and
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