4 Alina Kokoschka and Birgit Krawietz
sibility for any sort of ensuing appropriation by others, we refrain
from labelling Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim as the double-helixed
DNA within the nucleus of (post)modern Salafism or anything like
this; rather, we opt for the model of a repository that is selectively
employed by different actors for all sorts of purposes in accordance
with their respective agendas. Therefore, agency in the production of
meaning is attributed respectively to all multifarious parties. By such
processes of combined adoption and exclusion, in which all sorts of
techniques of compilation and blending are applied, the material trans-
forms and constantly takes on new qualities. Obviously the rich schol-
arly output of these two postclassical masters significantly contributes
to Islamic law, theology and also philosophy.^5 However, it even serves
as a huge repository for various ends, transcending – and, according
to many, descending from – the confines of higher Islamic learning.
To highlight some such manoeuvres in detail is likewise the concern
of this book. It cuts vastly across centuries, depicting three decisive
timescapes: the period of the salaf ṣāliḥ, the imagined age of the pris-
tine and most-authentically-inspired first three generations of Islam;
the period of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya; and, finally,
from the age of printing onwards to the Internet. Hence, this introduc-
tion focuses on (1) 20th-century Western secondary literature on Ibn
al-Qayyim, (2) the topos of Ibn Taymiyya’s – if not general Ḥanbalī –
intransigence, (3) the paradigm of Ibn al-Qayyim being the eternal
pupil and (4) a more differentiated conception of creative scholarship.
1. Western Secondary Literature on Ibn al-Qayyim
in the 20th Century
As a matter of fact and for reasons that still require reflection, the
beginning of the 21st century has witnessed a sudden surge in publica-
tions regarding Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. In due course, the present
volume incorporates these findings. However, it is worthwhile to also
take a closer look at what happened or, rather, did not happen previ-
5 We do not use the expression (late) medieval; compare Leder, Stefan: Postklas-
sisch und vormodern. Beobachtungen in der Mamlūkenzeit, in: Stephan Coner-
mann and Anja Pistor-Hatam (eds.): Die Mamlūken. Studien zu ihrer Geschichte
und Kultur; zum Gedenken an Ulrich Haarmann (1942–1999), Schenefeld 2003,
pp. 290–312. See also Kahl, Hans-Dietrich: Was bedeutet “Mittelalter”?, in: Sae-
culum 40 (1989), pp. 15–38.
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