al-Hallaj facts for kids

Al-Hallaj (whose full name was Abū 'l-Muġīth al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj), also known as Mansour Hallaj, was a famous Persian mystic, poet, and teacher of Sufism. He lived from about 858 CE to 922 CE. He is most famous for saying: "I am the Truth" (Ana'l-Ḥaqq). Many people thought this meant he was claiming to be God. However, others believed he meant that his own self had disappeared, allowing God to speak through him. Al-Hallaj became very popular as a preacher. Later, he got caught up in political issues within the Abbasid government. He was arrested and, after a long time in prison, was executed for both religious and political reasons. Even though many Sufi teachers at the time disagreed with his actions, Al-Hallaj later became a very important figure in the Sufi tradition.

Life Story

Early Years

Al-Hallaj was born around 858 CE in the Pars Province of the Abbasid Empire. His father was a cotton-carder, which is why he was called Hallaj (meaning "cotton-carder" in Arabic). His grandfather was a Zoroastrian priest. His family moved to a town called Wasit, known for its school where people learned to recite the Qur'an. Al-Hallaj memorized the Qur'an before he was 12 years old. He often spent time studying with other mystics at the school of Sahl al-Tustari. During this time, he stopped speaking Persian and only wrote in Arabic. Al-Hallaj was a Sunni Muslim.

When he was twenty, Al-Hallaj moved to Basra. There, he got married and became a Sufi, receiving his special Sufi clothing from 'Amr Makkī. His marriage, which lasted his whole life, caused some jealousy and problems with 'Amr Makkī. Through his brother-in-law, Al-Hallaj met a Zaydi Shi'i group that supported a rebellion known as the Zanj Rebellion.

Al-Hallaj later traveled to Baghdad to meet the famous Sufi teacher Junayd of Baghdad. However, he was tired of the disagreements between his father-in-law and 'Amr Makkī. So, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, even though Junayd advised him not to, right after the Zanj Rebellion ended.

Journeys and Preaching

In Mecca, Al-Hallaj promised to stay for one year in the holy courtyard, fasting and remaining completely silent. When he returned from Mecca, he took off his Sufi tunic. Instead, he wore regular clothes so he could preach more freely to everyone. Many people, including some former Christians who later became important government officials, became his followers. However, other Sufis were shocked by his actions. Some powerful government officials accused him of tricking people and turned crowds against him. Al-Hallaj then left for eastern Iran and stayed there for five years. He preached in Arab settlements and fortified monasteries where volunteer fighters lived. After this, he returned to Baghdad with his family.

Al-Hallaj made his second pilgrimage to Mecca with four hundred of his followers. There, some Sufis, who used to be his friends, accused him of magic and working with spirits called jinn. After this, he went on a long journey that took him to India and Turkestan, beyond the borders of Islamic lands. Around 902 CE, he returned to Mecca for his last pilgrimage. He wore an Indian loin-cloth and a patched garment. There, he prayed to God to make him disliked and rejected, so that God alone would show grace through him.

Imprisonment and Execution

After returning to his family in Baghdad, Al-Hallaj began making statements that excited ordinary people but worried educated classes. He spoke of his deep love for God and his wish to "die cursed for the Community." He also said things like "O Muslims, save me from God" and "God has made my blood lawful to you: kill me." It was around this time that Al-Hallaj is said to have spoken his famous phrase "I am the Truth." He was reported to the court, but a judge from the Shafi'i school of law refused to condemn him. The judge said that spiritual inspiration was not something he could judge.

The Execution of Mansur Hallaj. This watercolor painting is from Mughal India, around 1600.

Al-Hallaj's preaching had started a movement for moral and political change in Baghdad. In 908 CE, Sunni reformers tried to remove the young caliph al-Muqtadir, but they failed. When the caliph was back in power, his vizier (a high-ranking minister) started punishing those who followed the Hanbali school of thought. This made Al-Hallaj flee Baghdad. But three years later, he was arrested, brought back, and put in prison for nine years.

The conditions of Al-Hallaj's imprisonment changed depending on who had more power at the court, his enemies or his supporters. He was finally sentenced to death in 922 CE. The charge was that he was a rebel who wanted to destroy the Kaaba, because he had said "the important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one's heart." Another reason given was his suggestion to build local copies of the Kaaba for those who could not travel to Mecca. The queen-mother tried to help him, and the caliph first canceled the execution order. However, the vizier's plans eventually convinced the caliph to approve it. On March 25, trumpets announced his execution for the next day. The words he spoke during his last night in his cell are written in a book called Akhbar al-Hallaj. Thousands of people watched his execution on the banks of the Tigris River. Witnesses said Al-Hallaj's last words were "all that matters for the ecstatic is that the Unique should reduce him to Unity." Then he recited a verse from the Quran. His body was burned, and his ashes were scattered into the river. A memorial was built where he was executed and was visited by pilgrims for a thousand years until a flood swept it away in the 1920s.

Some people wonder if Al-Hallaj was truly executed only for religious reasons. According to some historians, the idea of blasphemy was not always clearly defined in Islamic law. Such statements were often handled differently by legal experts. In practice, religious crimes were usually prosecuted only when it was politically useful. It is believed he might have been spared if the vizier of Caliph al-Muqtadir had not wanted to discredit certain people linked to Al-Hallaj.

Teachings and Practices

Al-Hallaj spoke to ordinary people, encouraging them to find God within themselves. This earned him the title "the carder of innermost souls." He preached without the usual Sufi clothing and used language that local Shi'i people understood. This might have made some think he was a different kind of religious leader rather than a Sufi. His prayer to God to make him lost and disliked can be seen as typical for a Sufi who wants to completely lose himself in God. When Al-Hallaj returned to Baghdad from his last pilgrimage, he built a model of the Kaaba in his home for private worship.

People often believed Al-Hallaj could do amazing things. It was said that he "lit four hundred oil lamps in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre with his finger." He was also said to have "extinguished an eternal flame in a Zoroastrian fire temple with the tug of a sleeve."

Among other Sufis, Al-Hallaj was quite unique. Many Sufi masters felt it was not right to share deep mystical ideas with everyone. But Al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and teachings. This was made more noticeable when he would go into trances, which he said happened because he was in God's presence.

Al-Hallaj was also accused of ḥulūl, meaning "God becoming part of a human." This charge came from a debated verse where he spoke of a mystical union as two spirits in one body. However, some scholars argue that when Al-Hallaj spoke of unity with the divine using ḥulūl, he didn't mean a mixing of God and human. Instead, he meant a very strong awareness that leads to a spiritual vision of God's presence.

His most famous saying was Anā l-Ḥaqq (أنا الحق), meaning "I am The Truth." This was taken to mean he was claiming to be God, because al-Ḥaqq ("the Truth") is one of the names of God in Islam. While meditating, he uttered this phrase. The earliest reports say he said it in a mosque, while later stories claimed it was said privately to Junayd Baghdadi. Even though this saying is strongly linked to his execution, the real reasons for his death were more complicated. In another controversial statement, Al-Hallaj claimed "There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God." Similarly, he would point to his cloak and say, Mā fī jubbatī illā l-Lāh (ما في جبتي إلا الله), meaning "There is nothing in my cloak but God."

Writings

Al-Hallaj wrote his main works in Arabic. These included:

• Twenty-seven Riwāyāt (stories or narratives) collected by his students around 902 CE.
• Kitāb al-Tawāsīn, a series of eleven short works.
• Poems collected in Dīwān al-Hallāj.
• Sayings, including those from his last night, collected in Akhbār al-Hallāj.

His most well-known written work is the Book of al-Tawasin. In this book, he used diagrams and symbols to help explain mystical experiences that were hard to put into words. The chapters in Ṭawāsīn vary in length and topic. For example, Chapter 1 honors the Prophet Muhammad. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the Prophet's heavenly journey. Chapter 6 is the longest and tells a story of a conversation between Satan (Iblis) and God. In this story, Satan refuses to bow to Adam, even though God asks him to. Satan's reason is that he only bows to God. This part explores deep ideas about spiritual knowledge when it seems to go against God's commands.

Views from the Past

Few people in Islamic history caused as much discussion among scholars as Al-Hallaj. The arguments about him crossed different religious and legal groups. In almost every major school of thought, you can find people who criticized him and others who fully accepted his ideas or found ways to explain his statements. Among philosophers, Ibn Tufayl, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra admired him.

Even though most early Sufi teachers did not approve of him, almost all later generations of Sufis saw him as a saint.

Modern Views

Supporters of Mansur Al-Hallaj have explained his famous statement "I am the Truth" as meaning: "God has emptied me of everything but Himself." They believe Mansur never denied that God is one and was a strict believer in one God. However, he believed that when a person's actions are completely in line with God's wishes, it leads to a joyful unity with Him. The Malayalam author Vaikom Muhammad Basheer compares "Anā al-Ḥaqq" to Aham Brahmasmi, a famous saying in Hinduism that means 'I am Brahman' (the ultimate reality). Basheer uses this to suggest that God can be found within oneself. For a long time, some European historians thought Al-Hallaj was secretly a Christian. However, the French scholar Louis Massignon showed his importance within Islamic mysticism in his four-volume work La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansûr Hallâj.

Influence

Al-Hallaj is highly respected by the Yezidis, who have written religious songs about him. Some of his ideas from Kitab al-Tawasin can be found in their religion.

Inheritance

• Ashraf Ali Thanvi wrote a biography of Mansoor Hallaj called "Seerate Mansoor Hallaj." This was later put into a book by Thanvi's student Zafar Ahmad Usmani.

See Also

• Arabic literature
• List of Persian poets and authors
• Sufism
• Hasan of Basra
• Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya
• Aham Brahmasmi

Images for kids

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  The Execution of Mansur Hallaj. This watercolor painting is from Mughal India, around 1600.