Caterina Bori and Livnat Holtzman have undertaken the much-appreciated mission of producing a publication in an issue of Oriente Moderno devoted to the legacy of the medieval Hanbalite scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyya (d. 1350). They have collected contributions from scholars who devote their research to the legacy of this prolific medieval Islamic author who, as the title suggests, has for too long been placed in the shadow of his master Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328). The contributors agree that Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyyah's literary output is far more original than previous academic work on the writer has suggested. The variety of subjects treated by Ibn al-Qayyim is startling. The contributors to this publication tackle Ibn al-Qayyim's writings, which range from legal studies, through theological debates, to Islamic mysticism and reflections on the human soul. The contributions demonstrate that Ibn al-Qayyim's work can no longer be seen as a slavish copy of his master's thought or a summary thereof. The editors have therefore chosen to subdivide the book in three sections: Society and Law; God and Men; and Body and Soul. The organization of the text enables the editors to give space to the different subjects treated by Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyyah.
In the introduction, the editors discuss the relevance of Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyyah's oeuvre to the development of Islamic doctrine past and present. Indeed, in their popularized form some of Ibn al-Qayyim's books belong to the “pavement culture” of the capitals of Islamic cities (e.g. his “Book on the soul”, or his collection of prophetic traditions that serve directly the spiritual and legal needs of the faithful). Livnat and Bori present further information on Ibn al-Qayyim's intellectual formation and on other biographical details.
In the first section Birgit Krawietz (who has herself written many articles on the author, among them the first serious biographical survey which was published in the Mamluk Studies Review) discusses Ibn al-Qayyim's legal methodology. She points to the genre-transcending nature of his work, a theme that recurs in other papers in the publication. Frenkel addresses the social ideas pronounced by Ibn al-Qayyim and shows that his legal arguments were rooted in a prospect for an “ideal Islamic society”. As is also shown in other contributions, Frenkel underlines the “intentionality” of Ibn al-Qayyim's legal argumentations. David Friedenreich, for example, observes that Ibn al-Qayyim's legal advice on the consumption by Muslims of non-Muslim meat was motivated by this same “intentionality and practicality”. One very interesting remark in Friedenreich's contribution is that Ibn al-Qayyim seemed to define what he saw as “correct” Judaism and Christianity from an Islamic epistemological mindset. This approach of defining other creeds through Islamic eyes pervades his doxographic work (in for instance “Seeking guidance from the snares of Satan”).
Jon Hoover (known for his groundbreaking monograph, Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism, Leiden: Brill, 2007) opens the second section with a paper on Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyyah's affinity with Ibn Taymiyya's theological thought. He underlines the originality of Ibn al-Qayyim's approach in giving a central place to the meaning of God's attributes in the theological debate (in this case on the wise purpose in creating evil). The reflections of the medieval author on the attributes correlated to the Divine names are also a recurring theme in Ibn al-Qayyim's work (in his work on Sufism and Islamic spirituality for instance). Hoover shows how Ibn al-Qayyim perceived the existence of the attributes in paired necessary concomitants of God's action (e.g. honourer vs. humiliator). Ibn al-Qayyim presents God, as Hoover shows here, like a living, perpetually creative, divinity.
Abridged versions of text editions can have many shortcomings. Yasir Qadi proves this in his discussion of the abridged version of one of Ibn al-Qayyim's classic works on theology, “The Unleashed Thunderbolts”. Qadi's remarks on the author's perception of the “four pillars of falsehood” are illuminating: Qadi demonstrates that Ibn al-Qayyim was not merely a literalist but that he was no less sophisticated in the development of his argument than were speculative theologians.
In a final section Ovamir Anjum gives us more information on Ibn al-Qayyim's writings on Islamic spirituality and Sufism, based on the voluminous “Ranks of the Divine Seekers”. Anjum dissects this major work of Sunnite spirituality and gives an accurate image of Ibn al-Qayyim's spirituality. He comes to the cautious conclusion that Ibn al-Qayyim defended a certain form of mysticism divested from heretical and monist concepts. Irmeli Perho examines another important aspect of Ibn al-Qayyim's literary output: his audience. She shows that Ibn al-Qayyim did not write solely for the elites (who were familiar with theological or legal debates), but also for common believers, as he did, according to Perho, in his writings on “prophetic medicine”. She demonstrates how Ibn al-Qayyim's ideas on medicine were partially rooted (if not invalidated by Quran and sunna) in the old Galenic tradition.
Tzvi Langermann stresses still further the author's indebteness to the Hellenistic tradition. He shows how Ibn al-Qayyim, when writing the “Book of the Soul”, was influenced by notions derived from Hellenistic civilization through the reading of al-Rāzī. Langermann suggests that he even incorporated (probably without realizing) pagan ideas on the soul. Interestingly, Langermann points out, Ibn al-Qayyim did not make a distinction between “soul” and “spirit”. This is also the subject of the final paper, by Geneviève Gobillot, who discusses how Ibn al-Qayyim distanced his doctrine of the soul from that of the mystics. Holtzman and Bori's book ends with a bibliographical list of primary and secondary sources on Ibn Qayyim al-Ğawziyyah (and to a lesser degree also on Ibn Taymiyya). This well-researched publication constitutes a handsome addition to every library on Islamic thought.
