30 Alina Kokoschka and Birgit Krawietz
his pious readers with ongoing enchantment. The aesthetics of “rep-
etition” and constant divine realization powerfully evoke his increas-
ing Sufi leanings. It requires further research to analyse the degree to
which a pattern of transgression prevails in his oeuvre or whether one
should argue with, for example, de Certeau, that Ibn al-Qayyim had
no space of his own so that the only remaining possibility was, “sich
innerhalb einer vorgegebenen Struktur einzunisten.”^111
5. Master of Appropriation
An oeuvre of such vast dimensions could have been produced only
by fusion on a large scale, especially since Ibn al-Qayyim emerged as
“author” relatively late in his life. He is such a great recycler that any
of his contributions can be expected to show up in more or less trans-
formed shape somewhere else in his writings. Ibn al-Qayyim’s wide
reading, erudition, intellectual landscape and capacity to combine and
blend are extraordinarily consistent, even daring. There is no scope in
this chapter, unfortunately, to determine either the pattern of selected
topics and overall concerns he recycles and appropriates or how they
evolve during his lifetime.
A last shift in perspective is due. We do not deem it incidental that
the publications of Ibn al-Qayyim on the Arabic book market have
witnessed such a tremendous surge. The Ibn al-Qayyim available in
printed edited versions at the turn to the 20th century can hardly be
compared to the omnipresent figure at the turn to the 21st century; that
is to say, the gradual evolution of this phenomenon with its multiple
or revised editions, short versions etc. can provide telling insights into
the patterns of audience interests. Concerning the reconstruction of
his oeuvre and its authentic shape, today’s editions not only make Ibn
al-Qayyim’s works much more accessible than the dispersed manu-
scripts of previous times, allowing for helpful insights; they simulta-
neously and contrariwise increase the already existing obscurity and
disorder.^112 On the other hand, his oeuvre is used as a kaleidoscopic
repository by an increasing number of readers, with few or no schol-
arly credentials, from a broader range of social strata, who nevertheless
project their agendas onto his work and infuse his agendas, likewise,
111 De Certeau, Kunst des Handelns, p. 92.
112 Krawietz, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah, p. 63.
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