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al-Hallaj

May 23, 2023

"Hallaj" redirects here. For places in Iran, see Hallaj, Iran.

Mansour Al-Hallaj (Arabic: ابو المغيث الحسين بن منصور الحلاج, romanized: Abū 'l-Muġīth al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj) or Mansour Hallaj (Persian: منصور حلاج, romanized: Mansūr-e Hallāj) (c. 858 – 26 March 922) (Hijri c. 244 AH – 309 AH) was a Persian mystic, poet, and teacher of Sufism.[5][6][7] He is best known for his saying: "I am the Truth" (Ana'l-Ḥaqq), which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego, allowing God to speak through him. Al-Hallaj gained a wide following as a preacher before he became implicated in power struggles of the Abbasid court and was executed after a long period of confinement on religious and political charges. Although most of his Sufi contemporaries disapproved of his actions, Hallaj later became a major figure in the Sufi tradition.[8]

al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallāj
منصور حلاج
The execution of Mansur al-Hallaj (manuscript illustration from Mughal Empire, c. 1600)[1]
Personal
Bornc. 858 CE
Fars, Abbasid Caliphate
(present-day Iran)
Died26 March 922(922-03-26) (aged 63–64) CE[4]
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
(present-day Iraq)
ReligionIslam
EraAbbasid
CreedSunni[2][3]
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced

Life

Early years

Al-Hallaj was born around 858 in Pars Province of the Abbasid Empire to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic) in an Arabized town called al-Bayḍā'.[9] His grandfather was a Zoroastrian magus.[7] His father moved to a town in Wasit famous for its school of Quran reciters.[9] Al-Hallaj memorized the Qur'an before he was 12 years old and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study at the school of Sahl al-Tustari.[9] During this period al-Hallaj lost his ability to speak Persian and later wrote exclusively in Arabic.[7][9] Al-Hallaj was a Sunni Muslim.[2][3]

When he was twenty, al-Hallaj moved to Basra, where he married and received his Sufi habit from 'Amr Makkī, although his lifelong and monogamous marriage later provoked jealousy and opposition from the latter.[9][10] Through his brother-in-law, al-Hallaj found himself in contact with a Zaydi Shi'i clan that supported the Zanj Rebellion.[9]

Al-Hallaj later went to Baghdad to consult the famous Sufi teacher Junayd of Baghdad, but he was tired of the conflict that existed between his father-in-law and 'Amr Makkī and he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, against the advice of Junayd, as soon as the Zanj Rebellion was crushed.[9]

Pilgrimages and travels

In Mecca he made a vow to remain for one year in the courtyard of the sanctuary in fasting and total silence.[9] When he returned from Mecca, he laid down the Sufi tunic and adopted a "lay habit" in order to be able to preach more freely.[9] At that time a number of Sunnis, including former Christians who would later become viziers at the Abbasid court, became his disciples, but other Sufis were scandalized, while some Muʿtazilis and Shias who held high posts in the government accused him of deception and incited the mob against him.[9] Al-Hallaj left for eastern Iran and remained there for five years, preaching in the Arab colonies and fortified monasteries that housed volunteer fighters in the jihad, after which he was able to return and install his family in Baghdad.[9]

Al-Hallaj made his second pilgrimage to Mecca with four hundred disciples, where some Sufis, his former friends, accused him of sorcery and making a pact with the jinn.[9] Afterwards he set out on a long voyage that took him to India and Turkestan beyond the frontiers of Islamic lands.[9] About 290/902 he returned to Mecca for his final pilgrimage clad in an Indian loin-cloth and a patched garment over his shoulders.[9] There he prayed to God to be made despised and rejected, so that God alone might grant grace to Himself through His servant's lips.[9]

Imprisonment and execution

After returning to his family in Baghdad, al-Hallaj began making proclamations that aroused popular emotion and caused anxiety among the educated classes.[9] These included avowing his burning love of God and his desire to "die accursed for the Community", and statements such as "O Muslims, save me from God"[11] ... "God has made my blood lawful to you: kill me".[9] It was at that time that al-Hallaj is said to have pronounced his famous shath "I am the Truth".[9] He was denounced at the court, but a Shafi'i jurist refused to condemn him, stating that spiritual inspiration was beyond his jurisdiction.[9]

 
The Execution of Mansur Hallaj. Watercolor from Mughal India circa 1600.[12]

Al-Hallaj's preaching had by now inspired a movement for moral and political reform in Baghdad.[9] In 296/908 Sunni reformers made an unsuccessful attempt to depose the underage caliph al-Muqtadir.[9] When he was restored, his Shi'i vizier unleashed anti-Hanbali repressions which prompted al-Hallaj to flee Baghdad, but three years later he was arrested, brought back, and put in prison, where he remained for nine years.[9]

The conditions of al-Hallaj's confinement varied depending on the relative sway his opponents and supporters held at the court,[9] but he was finally condemned to death in 922 on the charge of being a Qarmatian rebel who wished to destroy the Kaaba, because he had said "the important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one's heart."[13] According to another report, the pretext was his recommendation to build local replicas of the Kaaba for those who are unable to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.[7] The queen-mother interceded with the caliph who initially revoked the execution order, but the intrigues of the vizier finally moved him to approve it.[13] On 23 Dhu 'l-Qa'da (25 March) trumpets announced his execution the next day.[13] The words he spoke during the last night in his cell are collected in Akhbar al-Hallaj.[13] Thousands of people witnessed his execution on the banks of the Tigris River. He was first punched in the face by his executioner, then lashed until unconscious, and then decapitated[14][15] or hanged.[7] Witnesses reported that al-Hallaj's last words under torture were "all that matters for the ecstatic is that the Unique should reduce him to Unity", after which he recited the Quranic verse 42:18.[13] His body was doused in oil and set alight, and his ashes were then scattered into the river.[7] A cenotaph was "quickly" built on the site of his execution, and "drew pilgrims for a millennium"[16] until being swept away by a Tigris flood during the 1920s.[17]

Some question whether al-Hallaj was executed for religious reasons as has been commonly assumed. According to Carl W. Ernst, the legal notion of blasphemy was not clearly defined in Islamic law and statements of this kind were treated inconsistently by legal authorities.[18] In practice, since apostasy was subsumed under the category of zandaqa, which reflected the Zoroastrian legacy of viewing heresy as a political crime, they were prosecuted only when it was politically convenient.[18] Sadakat Kadri points out that "it was far from conventional to punish heresy in the tenth century," and it is thought he would have been spared execution except that the vizier of caliph al-Muqtadir wished to discredit "certain figures who had associated themselves" with al-Hallaj.[19] (Previously al-Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved, pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword, not executed because the Shafi'ite judge had ruled that his words were not "proof of disbelief."[19])[20]

Teachings and practices

Al-Hallaj addressed himself to popular audiences encouraging them to find God inside their own souls, which earned him the title of "the carder of innermost souls" (ḥallāj al-asrār).[7] He preached without the traditional Sufi habit and used language familiar to the local Shi'i population.[7] This may have given the impression that he was a Qarmatian missionary rather than a Sufi.[7] His prayer to God to make him lost and despised can be regarded as typical for a Sufi seeking annihilation in God, although Louis Massignon has interpreted it as an expression of a desire to sacrifice himself as atonement on behalf of all Muslims.[7] When al-Hallaj returned to Baghdad from his last pilgrimage to Mecca, he built a model of the Kaaba in his home for private worship.[7]

Al-Hallaj was popularly credited with numerous supernatural acts. He was said to have "lit four hundred oil lamps in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre with his finger and extinguished an eternal flame in a Zoroastrian fire temple with the tug of a sleeve."[14]

Among other Sufis, al-Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. This was exacerbated by occasions when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God.[21]

Hallaj was also accused of ḥulūl "incarnationism", the basis of which charge seems to be a disputed verse in which the author proclaims mystical union in terms of two spirits in one body. This position was criticized for not affirming union and unity strongly enough; there are two spirits left whereas the Sufi fana' texts speak of utter annihilation and annihilation in annihilation (the annihilation of the consciousness of annihilation), with only one actor, the deity, left.[22] Saer El-Jaichi has argued "that in speaking of the unity with the divine in terms of ḥulūl, Hallaj does not mean the fusion (or, mingling) of the divine and human substances." Rather, he has in mind "a heightened sense of awareness that culminates in the fulfillment of a spiritual – super-sensory – vision of God’s presence."[23]

Edward Said succinctly described al-Hallaj as "quasi-Christlike."[24]

There are conflicting reports about his most famous shaṭḥ, أنا الحق Anā l-Ḥaqq "I am The Truth, " which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, since al-Ḥaqq "the Truth" is one of the names of God in Islam. While meditating, he uttered انا الحق The earliest report, coming from a hostile account of Basra grammarians, states that he said it in the mosque of al-Mansur, while testimonies that emerged decades later claimed that it was said in private during consultations with Junayd Baghdadi.[7][9] Even though this utterance has become inseparably associated with his execution in the popular imagination, owing in part to its inclusion in his biography by Attar of Nishapur, the historical issues surrounding his execution are far more complex.[7] In another controversial statement, al-Hallaj claimed "There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, " and similarly he would point to his cloak and say, ما في جبتي إلا الله Mā fī jubbatī illā l-Lāh "There is nothing in my cloak but God." He also wrote:[25]

I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
I asked, 'Who are You?'
He replied, 'You'.

In the 11th volume of Ibn Kathir's book al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, it is said that al-Hallaj used to deceive people by putting on plays with his hired men under the guise of spiritual healing, and extorting money from them by cunning and secret, and it is also stated that, he came to India to learn and practice Indian magic.[26] Ibn Kathir also said in the book, "Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami Amr ibn Uthman (son of Uthman ibn Affan) said on the authority of al-Makki: He said: "I was walking with al-Hallaj in some streets of Makkah and I read the Qur'an. I was reciting, and he heard my recitation. And said: I can recite the same (recitation), so I left him".[26] Narrated by Ibn Kathir, Abu Zari al-Tabari said, I heard Abu Ya'qub al-Aqta say: I gave my daughter in marriage to al-Husayn al-Hallaj when I saw his good conduct and diligence, and after a short time it became clear to me that He is a deceitful sorcerer, a hateful infidel.[26] Ibn Kathir also said, "Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Razi said: I heard Amr ibn Uthman cursing him and saying: If I could have killed him, I would have killed him with my own hands. I said to him: What did the Shaykh get on him? He Said: "I read a verse of the Book of Allah and He said: I can compose like it and speak like it."[26] Ibn Kathir also said, and Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri mentioned in his letter in the chapter on preserving the hearts of the sheikhs: Amr bin Uthman entered the house of al-Hallaj when he was in Makkah, he (Hallaj) was writing something on paper and he (Amr) said to him  : What is it? He (Hallaj) said: It is against the Qur'an. He said: Then he prayed for him and then he was not successful. Hallaj denied that Abu Ya'qub al-Aqta married him to his daughter.[26]

Works

Al-Hallaj's principal works, all written in Arabic, included:[13]

  • Twenty-seven Riwāyāt (stories or narratives) collected by his disciples in about 290/902.
  • Kitāb al-Tawāsīn, a series of eleven short works.
  • Poems collected in Dīwān al-Hallāj.
  • Pronouncements including those of his last night collected in Akhbār al-Hallāj.

His best known written work is the Book of al-Tawasin (كتاب الطواسين),[27] in which he used line diagrams and symbols to help him convey mystical experiences that he could not express in words.[7] Ṭawāsīn is the broken plural of the word ṭā-sīn which spells out the letters ṭā (ط) and sīn (س) placed for unknown reasons at the start of some surahs in the Quran.[27] The chapters vary in length and subject. Chapter 1 is an homage to the Prophet Muhammad, for example, while Chapters 4 and 5 are treatments of the Prophet's heavenly ascent to Mi'raj. Chapter 6 is the longest of the chapters and is devoted to a dialogue of Satan (Iblis) and God, where Satan refuses to bow to Adam, although God asks him to do so. Satan's monotheistic claim—that he refused to bow before any other than God even at the risk of eternal rejection and torment—is combined with the lyrical language of the love-mad lover from the Majnun tradition, the lover whose loyalty is so total that there is no path for him to any "other than" the beloved.[22] This passage explores the issues of mystical knowledge (ma'rifa) when it contradicts God's commands for although Iblis was disobeying God's commands, he was following God's will.[22] His refusal is due, others argue, to a misconceived idea of God's uniqueness and because of his refusal to abandon himself to God in love. Hallaj criticizes the staleness of his adoration (Mason, 51-3). Al-Hallaj stated in this book:[28]

If you do not recognize God, at least recognize His sign, I am the creative truth
because through the truth, I am eternal truth.

— Ana al-Haqq

Classical era views

Few figures in Islam provoked as much debate among classical commentators as al-Hallaj.[29] The controversy cut across doctrinal categories.[29] In virtually every major current of juridical and theological thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i Hanbali, Maturidi, Ash'ari, and also Shia Jafari) one finds his detractors and others who accepted his legacy completely or justified his statements with some excuse.[29] His admirers among philosophers included Ibn Tufayl, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra.[29]

Although the majority of early Sufi teachers condemned him, he was almost unanimously canonized by later generations of Sufis.[29] The principal Sufi interpretation of the shathiyat which took the form of "I am" sayings contrasted the permanence (baqā) of God with the mystical annihilation (fanā) of the individual ego, which made it possible for God to speak through the individual.[18] Some Sufi authors claimed that such utterances were misquotations or attributed them to immaturity, madness or intoxication, while others regarded them as authentic expressions of spiritual states, even profoundest experience of divine realities, which should not be manifested to the unworthy.[18] Some of them, including al-Ghazali, showed ambivalence about their apparently blasphemous nature while admiring the spiritual status of their authors.[18] Rumi wrote: "When the pen (of authority) is in the hand of a traitor, unquestionably Mansur is on a gibbet"[30]

Modern views

The supporters of Mansur have interpreted his statement as meaning, "God has emptied me of everything but Himself. " According to them, Mansur never denied God's oneness and was a strict monotheist. However, he believed that the actions of man, when performed in total accordance with God's pleasure, lead to a blissful unification with Him.[31] Malayalam author Vaikom Muhammad Basheer draws parallel between "Anā al-Ḥaqq" and Aham Brahmasmi, the Upanishad Mahāvākya which means 'I am Brahman' (the Ultimate Reality in Hinduism). Basheer uses this term to intend God is found within one's 'self'. There was a belief among European historians that al-Hallaj was secretly a Christian, until the French scholar Louis Massignon presented his legacy in the context of Islamic mysticism in his four-volume work La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansûr Hallâj.[7]

 
Burning and crucifixion of Mansur al-Hallaj, depiction from a 19th century Kashmiri manuscript.

Influence

Hallaj is highly revered by Yezidis, who composed a few religious hymns devoted to him. Elements of his views expressed in Kitab al-Tawasin can be found in their religion.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ . Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Gavin D'Costa (2014), Vatican II: Catholic Doctrines on Jews and Muslims, quote: "...focused on the Sunni mystic al-Hallaj...", Oxford University Press, p. 186, ISBN 9780199659272
  3. ^ a b N. Hanif (2002), Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: Central Asia and Middle East, quote: "Al Hallaj, in fact, remained always a Sunni, with a strong leaning towards hard asoeticism in observing the Ramadan fasts...", Sarup & Sons, p. 188, ISBN 9788176252669
  4. ^ Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, Page 249, ISBN 81-8131-098-5
  5. ^ Irwin, Robert, ed. (2010). The new Cambridge history of Islam, Volume 4 (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-83824-5. Perhaps the most controversial Su! was the Persian mystic al-Hallaj (d. 309/922).
  6. ^ John Arthur Garraty, Peter Gay, The Columbia History of the World, Harper & Row, 1981, page 288, ISBN 0-88029-004-8
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jawid Mojaddedi, "ḤALLĀJ, ABU'L-MOḠIṮ ḤOSAYN b. Manṣur b. Maḥammā Bayżāwi" in Encyclopedia Iranica
  8. ^ "Al-Ḥallāj | Islamic mystic". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. pp. 99–100.
  10. ^ Dawn.com (November 10, 2011). "The story of Hallaj". DAWN.COM. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "Execution of Husain Ibn Mansur Al-hallaj". The Morgan Library & Museum. November 22, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  12. ^ Brooklyn Museum. The Execution of Mansur Hallaj, from the Warren Hastings Album.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. p. 101.
  14. ^ a b Kadri 2012, p. 238.
  15. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:560-625.
  16. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:231.
  17. ^ Kadri 2012, p. 239.
  18. ^ a b c d e Carl W. Ernst (1997). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 9, "Shath". Brill. pp. 361–362.
  19. ^ a b Kadri 2012, p. 237.
  20. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:475.
  21. ^ "Life and teaching of Hallaj". March 13, 2021. from the original on October 31, 2004.
  22. ^ a b c Sells, Michael Anthony. 1996. Early islamic mysticism: Sufi, Qurʼan, miraj, poetic and theological writings. New York: Paulist Press.
  23. ^ Early Philosophical Sufism: The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn Ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāğ. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
  24. ^ W., Said, Edward (2019). Orientalism. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-118742-6. OCLC 1200830761.
  25. ^ Mohammed Rustom (2010). "Rumi's Metaphysics of the Heart". Mawlana Rumi Review. 37 (1): 69–79. doi:10.1177/000842980803700101. JSTOR 26810284. S2CID 144889204.
  26. ^ a b c d e البداية والنهاية/الجزء الحادي عشر/ثم دخلت سنة تسع وثلاثمائة
  27. ^ a b al-Hallaj, Mansur (1913). Kitab al-Tawasin (ed. Louis Massignon). Librairie Paul Geuthner.
  28. ^ Kitaab al-Tawaaseen, Massignon Press, Paris, 1913, vi, 32.
  29. ^ a b c d e Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. p. 104.
  30. ^ Mathnawi Book 2: line 1398 Translated by Nicholson p.293. Persian: چون قلم در دست غداري بود / لاجـرم منصور بـر داري بـود
  31. ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Thompson Gale, (2004), p.290
  • Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... Macmillan. ISBN 9780099523277.
  • Massignon, Louis (1982). The Passion of al-Hallaj, Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Translated by Herbert Mason. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691019193.
  • Rodziewicz, Artur (2022). The Mystery of Essence and the Essence of Mystery: Yezidi and Yaresan Cosmogonies in the Light of the Kitab al-Tawasin Macmillan. ISBN 978-981-16-6444-1.

Further reading

  • Browne, Edward G. (1998). Literary History of Persia. Richmond: Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X.
  • Ernst, Carl W. (1985). Words of Ecstasy in Sufism. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-87395-917-5.
  • Massignon, Louis (1983). "Perspective Transhistorique sur la vie de Hallaj". Parole donnée. Paris: Seuil: 73–97. ISBN 202006586X.
  • Mason, Herbert (1983). Memoir of a Friend: Louis Massignon. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 058531098X.
  • Michot, Yahya M. (2007). "Ibn Taymiyya's Commentary on the Creed of al-Hallâj". In A. Shihadeh (ed.). Sufism and Theology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 123–136. doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748626052.003.0008.
  • Mojaddedi, Jawid (March 1, 2012). "ḤALLĀJ, ABU'L-MOḠIṮ ḤOSAYN b. Manṣur b. Maḥammā Bayżāwi". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  • Rypka, Jan (1968). History of Iranian Literature. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company. ISBN 90-277-0143-1.
  • El-Jaichi, Saer (2018). Early Philosophical Sufism: The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāğ. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-4632-3917-6.
  • Shah, Idries (1964). The Sufis. Garden City: Doubleday. OCLC 427036.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Al-Hallaj.

In English:

  • [1] The Tawasin of Mansur al-Hallaj in English translation]
  • Doctrine of Al-Hallaj by Al-Qushayri
  • al-Hallaj at the Internet Medieval Source Book

In other languages:

  • Rhythmic prose and poetry by Al-Hallaj recited in Arabic
  • Kitâb al tawâsîn edited and annotated by Louis Massignon (in Arabic and French) (includes Persian translation and commentary by Ruzbihan Baqli).
  • Louis Massignon (1922) La passion d'Al Hosayn-ibn-Mansour al-Hallaj, vol. 2 (in French)
  • Akhbar al-Hallaj (in Arabic)
  • Collected Works of Mansur Hallaj in Persian translation December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  • Diwan of Mansur Hallaj in Persian translation March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  • Diwan of Mansur Hallaj in Urdu Translation December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

May 23, 2023
hallaj, hallaj, redirects, here, places, iran, hallaj, iran, mansour, hallaj, arabic, ابو, المغيث, الحسين, بن, منصور, الحلاج, romanized, abū, muġīth, Ḥusayn, manṣūr, Ḥallāj, mansour, hallaj, persian, منصور, حلاج, romanized, mansūr, hallāj, march, hijri, persia. Hallaj redirects here For places in Iran see Hallaj Iran Mansour Al Hallaj Arabic ابو المغيث الحسين بن منصور الحلاج romanized Abu l Muġith al Ḥusayn ibn Manṣur al Ḥallaj or Mansour Hallaj Persian منصور حلاج romanized Mansur e Hallaj c 858 26 March 922 Hijri c 244 AH 309 AH was a Persian mystic poet and teacher of Sufism 5 6 7 He is best known for his saying I am the Truth Ana l Ḥaqq which many saw as a claim to divinity while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego allowing God to speak through him Al Hallaj gained a wide following as a preacher before he became implicated in power struggles of the Abbasid court and was executed after a long period of confinement on religious and political charges Although most of his Sufi contemporaries disapproved of his actions Hallaj later became a major figure in the Sufi tradition 8 al Husayn ibn Mansur al Hallajمنصور حلاجThe execution of Mansur al Hallaj manuscript illustration from Mughal Empire c 1600 1 PersonalBornc 858 CEFars Abbasid Caliphate present day Iran Died26 March 922 922 03 26 aged 63 64 CE 4 Baghdad Abbasid Caliphate present day Iraq ReligionIslamEraAbbasidCreedSunni 2 3 Muslim leaderInfluenced by Dhul Nun al Misri Bayazid BastamiInfluenced Hafiz Shirazi Attar of Nishapur al Ghazali Sanai Rumi Balim Sultan Sachal Sarmast Imadaddin Nasimi Shah Hussain Ahmad Yasawi Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early years 1 2 Pilgrimages and travels 1 3 Imprisonment and execution 2 Teachings and practices 3 Works 4 Classical era views 5 Modern views 6 Influence 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksLife EditEarly years Edit Al Hallaj was born around 858 in Pars Province of the Abbasid Empire to a cotton carder Hallaj means cotton carder in Arabic in an Arabized town called al Bayḍa 9 His grandfather was a Zoroastrian magus 7 His father moved to a town in Wasit famous for its school of Quran reciters 9 Al Hallaj memorized the Qur an before he was 12 years old and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study at the school of Sahl al Tustari 9 During this period al Hallaj lost his ability to speak Persian and later wrote exclusively in Arabic 7 9 Al Hallaj was a Sunni Muslim 2 3 When he was twenty al Hallaj moved to Basra where he married and received his Sufi habit from Amr Makki although his lifelong and monogamous marriage later provoked jealousy and opposition from the latter 9 10 Through his brother in law al Hallaj found himself in contact with a Zaydi Shi i clan that supported the Zanj Rebellion 9 Al Hallaj later went to Baghdad to consult the famous Sufi teacher Junayd of Baghdad but he was tired of the conflict that existed between his father in law and Amr Makki and he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca against the advice of Junayd as soon as the Zanj Rebellion was crushed 9 Pilgrimages and travels Edit In Mecca he made a vow to remain for one year in the courtyard of the sanctuary in fasting and total silence 9 When he returned from Mecca he laid down the Sufi tunic and adopted a lay habit in order to be able to preach more freely 9 At that time a number of Sunnis including former Christians who would later become viziers at the Abbasid court became his disciples but other Sufis were scandalized while some Muʿtazilis and Shias who held high posts in the government accused him of deception and incited the mob against him 9 Al Hallaj left for eastern Iran and remained there for five years preaching in the Arab colonies and fortified monasteries that housed volunteer fighters in the jihad after which he was able to return and install his family in Baghdad 9 Al Hallaj made his second pilgrimage to Mecca with four hundred disciples where some Sufis his former friends accused him of sorcery and making a pact with the jinn 9 Afterwards he set out on a long voyage that took him to India and Turkestan beyond the frontiers of Islamic lands 9 About 290 902 he returned to Mecca for his final pilgrimage clad in an Indian loin cloth and a patched garment over his shoulders 9 There he prayed to God to be made despised and rejected so that God alone might grant grace to Himself through His servant s lips 9 Imprisonment and execution Edit After returning to his family in Baghdad al Hallaj began making proclamations that aroused popular emotion and caused anxiety among the educated classes 9 These included avowing his burning love of God and his desire to die accursed for the Community and statements such as O Muslims save me from God 11 God has made my blood lawful to you kill me 9 It was at that time that al Hallaj is said to have pronounced his famous shath I am the Truth 9 He was denounced at the court but a Shafi i jurist refused to condemn him stating that spiritual inspiration was beyond his jurisdiction 9 The Execution of Mansur Hallaj Watercolor from Mughal India circa 1600 12 Al Hallaj s preaching had by now inspired a movement for moral and political reform in Baghdad 9 In 296 908 Sunni reformers made an unsuccessful attempt to depose the underage caliph al Muqtadir 9 When he was restored his Shi i vizier unleashed anti Hanbali repressions which prompted al Hallaj to flee Baghdad but three years later he was arrested brought back and put in prison where he remained for nine years 9 The conditions of al Hallaj s confinement varied depending on the relative sway his opponents and supporters held at the court 9 but he was finally condemned to death in 922 on the charge of being a Qarmatian rebel who wished to destroy the Kaaba because he had said the important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one s heart 13 According to another report the pretext was his recommendation to build local replicas of the Kaaba for those who are unable to make the pilgrimage to Mecca 7 The queen mother interceded with the caliph who initially revoked the execution order but the intrigues of the vizier finally moved him to approve it 13 On 23 Dhu l Qa da 25 March trumpets announced his execution the next day 13 The words he spoke during the last night in his cell are collected in Akhbar al Hallaj 13 Thousands of people witnessed his execution on the banks of the Tigris River He was first punched in the face by his executioner then lashed until unconscious and then decapitated 14 15 or hanged 7 Witnesses reported that al Hallaj s last words under torture were all that matters for the ecstatic is that the Unique should reduce him to Unity after which he recited the Quranic verse 42 18 13 His body was doused in oil and set alight and his ashes were then scattered into the river 7 A cenotaph was quickly built on the site of his execution and drew pilgrims for a millennium 16 until being swept away by a Tigris flood during the 1920s 17 Some question whether al Hallaj was executed for religious reasons as has been commonly assumed According to Carl W Ernst the legal notion of blasphemy was not clearly defined in Islamic law and statements of this kind were treated inconsistently by legal authorities 18 In practice since apostasy was subsumed under the category of zandaqa which reflected the Zoroastrian legacy of viewing heresy as a political crime they were prosecuted only when it was politically convenient 18 Sadakat Kadri points out that it was far from conventional to punish heresy in the tenth century and it is thought he would have been spared execution except that the vizier of caliph al Muqtadir wished to discredit certain figures who had associated themselves with al Hallaj 19 Previously al Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword not executed because the Shafi ite judge had ruled that his words were not proof of disbelief 19 20 Teachings and practices EditAl Hallaj addressed himself to popular audiences encouraging them to find God inside their own souls which earned him the title of the carder of innermost souls ḥallaj al asrar 7 He preached without the traditional Sufi habit and used language familiar to the local Shi i population 7 This may have given the impression that he was a Qarmatian missionary rather than a Sufi 7 His prayer to God to make him lost and despised can be regarded as typical for a Sufi seeking annihilation in God although Louis Massignon has interpreted it as an expression of a desire to sacrifice himself as atonement on behalf of all Muslims 7 When al Hallaj returned to Baghdad from his last pilgrimage to Mecca he built a model of the Kaaba in his home for private worship 7 Al Hallaj was popularly credited with numerous supernatural acts He was said to have lit four hundred oil lamps in Jerusalem s Church of the Holy Sepulchre with his finger and extinguished an eternal flame in a Zoroastrian fire temple with the tug of a sleeve 14 Among other Sufis al Hallaj was an anomaly Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses yet al Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings This was exacerbated by occasions when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God 21 Hallaj was also accused of ḥulul incarnationism the basis of which charge seems to be a disputed verse in which the author proclaims mystical union in terms of two spirits in one body This position was criticized for not affirming union and unity strongly enough there are two spirits left whereas the Sufi fana texts speak of utter annihilation and annihilation in annihilation the annihilation of the consciousness of annihilation with only one actor the deity left 22 Saer El Jaichi has argued that in speaking of the unity with the divine in terms of ḥulul Hallaj does not mean the fusion or mingling of the divine and human substances Rather he has in mind a heightened sense of awareness that culminates in the fulfillment of a spiritual super sensory vision of God s presence 23 Edward Said succinctly described al Hallaj as quasi Christlike 24 There are conflicting reports about his most famous shaṭḥ أنا الحق Ana l Ḥaqq I am The Truth which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God since al Ḥaqq the Truth is one of the names of God in Islam While meditating he uttered انا الحق The earliest report coming from a hostile account of Basra grammarians states that he said it in the mosque of al Mansur while testimonies that emerged decades later claimed that it was said in private during consultations with Junayd Baghdadi 7 9 Even though this utterance has become inseparably associated with his execution in the popular imagination owing in part to its inclusion in his biography by Attar of Nishapur the historical issues surrounding his execution are far more complex 7 In another controversial statement al Hallaj claimed There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God and similarly he would point to his cloak and say ما في جبتي إلا الله Ma fi jubbati illa l Lah There is nothing in my cloak but God He also wrote 25 I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart I asked Who are You He replied You In the 11th volume of Ibn Kathir s book al Bidaya wa l Nihaya it is said that al Hallaj used to deceive people by putting on plays with his hired men under the guise of spiritual healing and extorting money from them by cunning and secret and it is also stated that he came to India to learn and practice Indian magic 26 Ibn Kathir also said in the book Abu Abd al Rahman al Sulami Amr ibn Uthman son of Uthman ibn Affan said on the authority of al Makki He said I was walking with al Hallaj in some streets of Makkah and I read the Qur an I was reciting and he heard my recitation And said I can recite the same recitation so I left him 26 Narrated by Ibn Kathir Abu Zari al Tabari said I heard Abu Ya qub al Aqta say I gave my daughter in marriage to al Husayn al Hallaj when I saw his good conduct and diligence and after a short time it became clear to me that He is a deceitful sorcerer a hateful infidel 26 Ibn Kathir also said Muhammad ibn Yahya al Razi said I heard Amr ibn Uthman cursing him and saying If I could have killed him I would have killed him with my own hands I said to him What did the Shaykh get on him He Said I read a verse of the Book of Allah and He said I can compose like it and speak like it 26 Ibn Kathir also said and Abu al Qasim al Qushayri mentioned in his letter in the chapter on preserving the hearts of the sheikhs Amr bin Uthman entered the house of al Hallaj when he was in Makkah he Hallaj was writing something on paper and he Amr said to him What is it He Hallaj said It is against the Qur an He said Then he prayed for him and then he was not successful Hallaj denied that Abu Ya qub al Aqta married him to his daughter 26 Works EditAl Hallaj s principal works all written in Arabic included 13 Twenty seven Riwayat stories or narratives collected by his disciples in about 290 902 Kitab al Tawasin a series of eleven short works Poems collected in Diwan al Hallaj Pronouncements including those of his last night collected in Akhbar al Hallaj His best known written work is the Book of al Tawasin كتاب الطواسين 27 in which he used line diagrams and symbols to help him convey mystical experiences that he could not express in words 7 Ṭawasin is the broken plural of the word ṭa sin which spells out the letters ṭa ط and sin س placed for unknown reasons at the start of some surahs in the Quran 27 The chapters vary in length and subject Chapter 1 is an homage to the Prophet Muhammad for example while Chapters 4 and 5 are treatments of the Prophet s heavenly ascent to Mi raj Chapter 6 is the longest of the chapters and is devoted to a dialogue of Satan Iblis and God where Satan refuses to bow to Adam although God asks him to do so Satan s monotheistic claim that he refused to bow before any other than God even at the risk of eternal rejection and torment is combined with the lyrical language of the love mad lover from the Majnun tradition the lover whose loyalty is so total that there is no path for him to any other than the beloved 22 This passage explores the issues of mystical knowledge ma rifa when it contradicts God s commands for although Iblis was disobeying God s commands he was following God s will 22 His refusal is due others argue to a misconceived idea of God s uniqueness and because of his refusal to abandon himself to God in love Hallaj criticizes the staleness of his adoration Mason 51 3 Al Hallaj stated in this book 28 If you do not recognize God at least recognize His sign I am the creative truth because through the truth I am eternal truth Ana al HaqqClassical era views EditFew figures in Islam provoked as much debate among classical commentators as al Hallaj 29 The controversy cut across doctrinal categories 29 In virtually every major current of juridical and theological thought Hanafi Maliki Shafi i Hanbali Maturidi Ash ari and also Shia Jafari one finds his detractors and others who accepted his legacy completely or justified his statements with some excuse 29 His admirers among philosophers included Ibn Tufayl Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra 29 Although the majority of early Sufi teachers condemned him he was almost unanimously canonized by later generations of Sufis 29 The principal Sufi interpretation of the shathiyat which took the form of I am sayings contrasted the permanence baqa of God with the mystical annihilation fana of the individual ego which made it possible for God to speak through the individual 18 Some Sufi authors claimed that such utterances were misquotations or attributed them to immaturity madness or intoxication while others regarded them as authentic expressions of spiritual states even profoundest experience of divine realities which should not be manifested to the unworthy 18 Some of them including al Ghazali showed ambivalence about their apparently blasphemous nature while admiring the spiritual status of their authors 18 Rumi wrote When the pen of authority is in the hand of a traitor unquestionably Mansur is on a gibbet 30 Modern views EditThe supporters of Mansur have interpreted his statement as meaning God has emptied me of everything but Himself According to them Mansur never denied God s oneness and was a strict monotheist However he believed that the actions of man when performed in total accordance with God s pleasure lead to a blissful unification with Him 31 Malayalam author Vaikom Muhammad Basheer draws parallel between Ana al Ḥaqq and Aham Brahmasmi the Upanishad Mahavakya which means I am Brahman the Ultimate Reality in Hinduism Basheer uses this term to intend God is found within one s self There was a belief among European historians that al Hallaj was secretly a Christian until the French scholar Louis Massignon presented his legacy in the context of Islamic mysticism in his four volume work La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansur Hallaj 7 Burning and crucifixion of Mansur al Hallaj depiction from a 19th century Kashmiri manuscript Influence EditHallaj is highly revered by Yezidis who composed a few religious hymns devoted to him Elements of his views expressed in Kitab al Tawasin can be found in their religion citation needed See also EditArabic literature List of Persian poets and authors Sufism Hasan of Basra Rabi a al Adawiyya Aham Brahmasmi Anal HaqReferences Edit The Walters Art Museum The Hanging of Mansur al Hallaj from a manuscript of Diwan of Amir Khusrow a k a Hasan Dihlavi Archived from the original on December 23 2015 Retrieved December 23 2015 a b Gavin D Costa 2014 Vatican II Catholic Doctrines on Jews and Muslims quote focused on the Sunni mystic al Hallaj Oxford University Press p 186 ISBN 9780199659272 a b N Hanif 2002 Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis Central Asia and Middle East quote Al Hallaj in fact remained always a Sunni with a strong leaning towards hard asoeticism in observing the Ramadan fasts Sarup amp Sons p 188 ISBN 9788176252669 Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia Vol 4 Page 249 ISBN 81 8131 098 5 Irwin Robert ed 2010 The new Cambridge history of Islam Volume 4 1 publ ed Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 47 ISBN 978 0 521 83824 5 Perhaps the most controversial Su was the Persian mystic al Hallaj d 309 922 John Arthur Garraty Peter Gay The Columbia History of the World Harper amp Row 1981 page 288 ISBN 0 88029 004 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jawid Mojaddedi ḤALLAJ ABU L MOḠIṮ ḤOSAYN b Manṣur b Maḥamma Bayzawi in Encyclopedia Iranica Al Ḥallaj Islamic mystic Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved December 8 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Louis Massignon Louis Gardet 1986 Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed Vol 3 Al Halladj Brill pp 99 100 Dawn com November 10 2011 The story of Hallaj DAWN COM Retrieved December 8 2020 Execution of Husain Ibn Mansur Al hallaj The Morgan Library amp Museum November 22 2013 Retrieved April 30 2021 Brooklyn Museum The Execution of Mansur Hallaj from the Warren Hastings Album a b c d e f Louis Massignon Louis Gardet 1986 Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed Vol 3 Al Halladj Brill p 101 a b Kadri 2012 p 238 Massignon 1982 p 1 560 625 Massignon 1982 p 1 231 Kadri 2012 p 239 a b c d e Carl W Ernst 1997 Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed Vol 9 Shath Brill pp 361 362 a b Kadri 2012 p 237 Massignon 1982 p 1 475 Life and teaching of Hallaj March 13 2021 Archived from the original on October 31 2004 a b c Sells Michael Anthony 1996 Early islamic mysticism Sufi Qurʼan miraj poetic and theological writings New York Paulist Press Early Philosophical Sufism The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn Ibn Manṣur al Ḥallag Piscataway NJ Gorgias Press W Said Edward 2019 Orientalism Penguin Books ISBN 978 0 14 118742 6 OCLC 1200830761 Mohammed Rustom 2010 Rumi s Metaphysics of the Heart Mawlana Rumi Review 37 1 69 79 doi 10 1177 000842980803700101 JSTOR 26810284 S2CID 144889204 a b c d e البداية والنهاية الجزء الحادي عشر ثم دخلت سنة تسع وثلاثمائة a b al Hallaj Mansur 1913 Kitab al Tawasin ed Louis Massignon Librairie Paul Geuthner Kitaab al Tawaaseen Massignon Press Paris 1913 vi 32 a b c d e Louis Massignon Louis Gardet 1986 Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed Vol 3 Al Halladj Brill p 104 Mathnawi Book 2 line 1398 Translated by Nicholson p 293 Persian چون قلم در دست غداري بود لاجـرم منصور بـر داري بـود Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World Thompson Gale 2004 p 290 Kadri Sadakat 2012 Heaven on Earth A Journey Through Shari a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia Macmillan ISBN 9780099523277 Massignon Louis 1982 The Passion of al Hallaj Mystic and Martyr of Islam Translated by Herbert Mason Princeton NJ Princeton University Press ISBN 0691019193 Rodziewicz Artur 2022 The Mystery of Essence and the Essence of Mystery Yezidi and Yaresan Cosmogonies in the Light of the Kitab al Tawasin Macmillan ISBN 978 981 16 6444 1 Further reading EditBrowne Edward G 1998 Literary History of Persia Richmond Curzon Press ISBN 0 7007 0406 X Ernst Carl W 1985 Words of Ecstasy in Sufism Albany State University of New York Press ISBN 0 87395 917 5 Massignon Louis 1983 Perspective Transhistorique sur la vie de Hallaj Parole donnee Paris Seuil 73 97 ISBN 202006586X Mason Herbert 1983 Memoir of a Friend Louis Massignon Notre Dame University of Notre Dame Press ISBN 058531098X Michot Yahya M 2007 Ibn Taymiyya s Commentary on the Creed of al Hallaj In A Shihadeh ed Sufism and Theology Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press pp 123 136 doi 10 3366 edinburgh 9780748626052 003 0008 Mojaddedi Jawid March 1 2012 ḤALLAJ ABU L MOḠIṮ ḤOSAYN b Manṣur b Maḥamma Bayzawi Encyclopaedia Iranica Retrieved December 3 2012 Rypka Jan 1968 History of Iranian Literature Dordrecht Reidel Publishing Company ISBN 90 277 0143 1 El Jaichi Saer 2018 Early Philosophical Sufism The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn ibn Manṣur al Ḥallag Piscataway NJ Gorgias Press ISBN 978 1 4632 3917 6 Shah Idries 1964 The Sufis Garden City Doubleday OCLC 427036 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Al Hallaj In English 1 The Tawasin of Mansur al Hallaj in English translation Selected poetry by al Hallaj in English translation Doctrine of Al Hallaj by Al Qushayri Articles at Poet Seers al Hallaj at the Internet Medieval Source BookIn other languages Rhythmic prose and poetry by Al Hallaj recited in Arabic Kitab al tawasin edited and annotated by Louis Massignon in Arabic and French includes Persian translation and commentary by Ruzbihan Baqli Louis Massignon 1922 La passion d Al Hosayn ibn Mansour al Hallaj vol 2 in French Akhbar al Hallaj in Arabic Collected Works of Mansur Hallaj in Persian translation Archived December 22 2015 at the Wayback Machine Diwan of Mansur Hallaj in Persian translation Archived March 5 2016 at the Wayback Machine Diwan of Mansur Hallaj in Urdu Translation Archived December 22 2015 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Al Hallaj amp oldid 1155938048, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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