96 Gino Schallenbergh
Ḥanbalī love theory however, Joseph Bell observed that one should
not classify these works too rashly as Sufi texts. He points to the fact
that Ibn al-Qayyim himself adapted the terminology of his contempo-
raries for the sake of clarity. But the real purpose of his exercise, thus
Bell, is that;
Through Ṭarīq al-hijratayn and Madārij al-sālikīn, works totalling more
than fifteen hundred pages in the printed editions, the author has skillful-
ly reproduced model mystical treatises and has manipulated the technical
vocabulary of Sufism with the virtuosity of a true master only to expound
the conventional message of nomos religion.^8After a closer study of the 100 terms listed in the Madārij al-sālikīn and
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s treatment of the terms, we have come to
the conclusion that Bell’s assessment is correct, but on the other hand
the spiritual dimension of Ibn al-Qayyim’s work cannot be under-
estimated. It is certainly true that in the greater bulk of the text Ibn
Qay yim al-Jawziyya stresses on the precedence of the revealed law
over all other considerations. At the same time he was aware that con-
cerns of a more spiritual and religious emotional nature could not be
left to the theoretic enquiry and mystical message of the Sufis alone.
In fact he tried to modify the terms being used by the mystics and to
bring them in line with the rules and ethics of the sharia. Moreover he
desired to give expression to his own spiritual feelings in a sometimes
more emotional and sensitive way.
Ibn al-Qayyim treated the Sufi terms in a variety of ways. His essen-
tial views on Sufism and its translation in popular religion are not much
different than Ibn Taymiyya’s. He rejected saint cults as a totally unac-
ceptable form of religiosity and fulminated against what he deemed to
be the excessive veneration of saints. Like Ibn Taymiyya he defended
an ideology that rejected all forms of idolatry. In his attempt to eradi-
cate the ideological premises of associationism (shirk) he tried to iden-
tify the different types of idol cults. One of his works, the Ighāthat
used is the undated Ḥalabī Beirut edition in three volumes. A better edition we
did not consult yet is Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya: Madārij al-sālikīn fī manāzil
iyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāla nastaʿīn, Damascus 2003. Recently an abridged edition
was published; Ibn al-Qayyim: al-Muhadhdhab min Madārij al-sālikīn, Beirut
2005.
8 Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim espoused what Bell calls a “technique of flex-
ibility in religious debate” that enabled them to manipulate the terminology of
their adversaries. Bell, Joseph Norment: Love Theory in Later Ḥanbalite Islam,
New York 1979, p. 92.
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