Appropriation of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya 25
still lacking in Islamic Studies.^96 From this perspective, the study of
Muslim practices of citation and legitimization offers a deeper under-
standing of them, especially with regard to changing modes in the era
of digital data.^97 We suggest exploring and highlighting this unfolding
appropriation, including paths not taken by Ibn al-Qayyim, his cre-
ative quoting practices and genre transgression, as well as presenting
him as the epitome of appropriation.
4.1. Unfolding AppropriationIbn al-Qayyim’s outward conformity with and praise of Ibn Taymiyya
should not be taken as a blanket compliance with all the latter’s opin-
ions, insofar as he is extremely picky about which of his master’s ideas
he actively takes up, pursues and propagates. Where he is not enthusi-
astic about the latter’s topics, arrangements and pitches, he simply does
not mention them: he sees no need to openly criticise. The paths Ibn
al-Qayyim did not take in relation to Ibn Taymiyya’s writings, how-
ever, have not hitherto been systematically explored; they are, at most,
alluded to.^ Therefore, instead of watching for Ibn al-Qayyim to explic-
itly distance himself from Ibn Taymiyya, we surmise that interpret-
ers should pay more attention to his silent omissions, slight variants
and quotations from Ibn Taymiyya that quite often disclose a slightly
shifted meaning by way of translocation and a specific combination
with other authors. A diligent context-sensitive comparison of their
writings allows the reader to discern the emergence of subtle diver-
gent drafts of this kind.^98 On the other end of the scale, Ibn al-Qayyim
grossly adopts “alien” elements and incorporates large quantities, if
96 For an overview, see Aigner, Anita: Einleitung. Von ‘architektonischer Moder-
ne’ zu ‘Architektur in der Moderne’. Kulturelle Grenzüberschreitungen, in:
idem (ed.): Vernakulare Moderne. Grenzüberschreitungen in der Architektur
um 1900. Das Bauernhaus und seine Aneignung, Bielefeld 2010, pp. 7–35, here
especially pp. 11–13.
97 Carmen Bauer has shown the proximity of digital techniques, like threads in
online forums, and Muslim practices of argumentation: Zurück zum Quellcode.
Salafistische Wissenspraktiken im Internet, in: inamo 57 (2009), pp. 37–42, here
p. 39.
98 Compare Frenkel, Yehoshua: Islamic Utopia under the Mamluks. The Social
and Legal Ideals of Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyyah, in: Bori and Holtzmann, Schol-
ar in the Shadow, pp. 67–87, here p. 81, with regard to cemetery rituals, and
especially the chapter by Hoover in the present volume.
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