110 Gino Schallenbergh
illustration of mystical piety. Ibn al-ʿArīf seems to believe, thus Ibn
al-Qayyim, that because of the absence of fear, the pain of the Gnos-
tics turns in pleasure. This would imply that reward and punishment
(waʿd and waʿīd) are interchangeable. Ibn al-ʿArīf had suggested that
the elite exchange waʿd for waʿīd, preferring punishment to reward. As
a consequence they indulge in sensing pain, all in line with the mystic
conviction that everything sent down by God is in all cases good and
benign for the worshippers. Ibn al-Qayyim dismisses this position and
he qualifies Ibn alʿArīf’s saying as an ecstatic utterance that can only
be imputed to his own soul’s imperfection (hādhā min ruʿūnāt al-nafs
wa-min al-shaṭaḥāt allatī yajib inkāruhā) (!).
When such a thing is said in a sane state of mind, Ibn al-Qayyim
warns, it is a denial of God’s punishment and its description as a ter-
rible ordeal in the Koran, and he cries out: “May God surround these
madmen with pain that makes them scream and beg for mercy, and
they will discover the stupidity of their allegations.” He suspected
that this kind of eccentric ideas were inspired by the fatalism and
determinism that prevails with some Sufis who believe that all what
is God-sent is in all cases good and benign for mankind. Ibn Qayyim
al-Jawziyya gives his opinion on determinism in many passages of the
Madārij al-sālikīn. He noted that Sufis with monist tendencies who
believed that one should regard all human deeds as equal since cre-
ated by God, made the mistake not to distinguish between God’s cre-
ative will and His prescriptive will.^46 He recognized in Sufi fatalism
the hallmarks of the determinist ideology (jabriyya) and warned for
the resulting nihilism and abolishment of ritual obligations. To Ibn
Qayyim al- Jawziyya, these and similar statements are tantamount to
heresy or unbelief (ilḥād). Even if the mystic pretends to speak about
the afflictions and pain suffered in this world, Ibn al-Qayyim adds,
he is equally mistaken, because waʿīd is not the same as the pain suf-
fered in this world. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya refers to the words of
Ibn al-ʿArīf as “drivel” (hadhayān). He does not deny however that
a person can experience a spiritual state while in pain, which makes
46 Bell, Love Theory, p. 179, and on Ibn Taymiyya’s doctrine regarding this matter,
pp. 61–73. For Ibn al-Qayyim’s ideas on determinism see Perho, Irmeli: Man
Chooses His Destiny. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Views on Predestination, in:
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 12 (2001), pp. 61–70, here p. 68; and for
a recent comprehensive and thorough study of Ibn Taymiyya on predestination
and God’s justice to men see Hoover, Jon: Ibn Taymiyya’s Theodicy of Perpetual
Optimism, Leiden 2007.
Brought to you by | Nanyang Technological University
Authenticated