Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Attitude Toward Christianity 449
exaggerated presentation – even regard it as more meritorious (afḍal)
than a prayer spoken in a state of ritual purity because it is not compat-
ible with Jewish and Muslim customs.^135 Beyond this, Ibn al-Qayyim
notes that the Christians’ behavior while praying deviates from what
Jesus felt bound by. He maintains that, following the example of the
chain of prophets before him, Jesus recited the Torah and Psalter when
praying; whereas Christians, when they pray, repeat words recited by
their clergy (lit.: alladhīna yataqaddamūna), thereby resembling loud
sobbing and songs, and cross themselves at the beginning of the prayer,
which is in his view less a veneration than a mockery of God.^136 Ibn
al-Qayyim also clearly contrasts Jesus’ alleged attitude toward the
consumption of pork meat, which he argues the Christians not only
declare permissible, but had even raised to the sign of their religion.^137
Here he claims that although Jesus had not only forbidden, but even
cursed the consumption of pork, the Christians forthrightly claim
that the pig is to be considered one of the purest, most beautiful, and
best animals.^138 But to discredit the eating of pork, Ibn al-Qayyim is
not satisfied to adduce an unambiguous prohibition by Jesus and also
notes Jesus’ proscription of the pig as an impure animal by weaving
Mark 16:9 respectively Luke 8:2 into Matthew 8:28–34 or Mark 5:1–
15 respectively Luke 8:27–35 to create a narrative according to which
Jesus drove seven devils out of Mary Magdalene and ordered them to
enter a pig.^139
Among the forms of Christian religiosity that Ibn al-Qayyim does
not brand aberrations from Jesus’ own example but nevertheless con-
demns is, to provide only one example, confession and the associated
acts of expiation. He expresses his rejection implicitly when he notes
that infractions like drunkenness (sukr) and adultery or fornication
(zinā) are not punished among the Christians, who do not even believe
that these infractions lead to punishment in the afterlife. Rather, he
argues, the Christian clergy forgive believers such offenses, which the
latter in turn repay with gifts, money, or the like.^140 For a Muslim read-
ing public that, in accordance with the Sharia, regards these offenses as
a violation of a right of God (ḥaqq Allāh), and thus to be corporeally
135 Ibid., pp. 483–484.
136 Ibid., p. 484.
137 Ibid., p. 486.
138 Ibid., pp. 484–485.
139 Ibid., p. 485.
140 Ibid.
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