MANSUR HALLAJ
(D 922 AD)
Mansur Hallaj ("the cotton-comber"), a Persian, of Zoroastrian lineage,
was a pupil of Junaid of Bagdad, a more sober-minded Sufi than his
contemporary Bayazid Bastami. Mansur himself however was of an
enthusiastic temperament, and took no pains to guard his language. One
of his extraordinary utterances, "I am the truth," led at last to his
execution, "the Truth" being one of the recognised names of God in
Muhammadan nomenclature. Notwithstanding this, even at the present day
he passes among the Sufis for one of their greatest saints, while the
more orthodox regard him as a daring blasphemer who received his
deserts. "His contemporaries," says a Muhammadan writer, "entertained as
many different views concerning him as the Jews and Christians with
respect to the Messiah." Certainly when we read the various accounts of
him by authors of different tendencies, if we did not know to the
contrary, we might suppose ourselves reading about different persons
bearing the same name. The orthodox regard him chiefly as a sorcerer in
league with supernatural powers, whether celestial or infernal, for he
caused, it is said, summer fruits to appear in winter and _vice versa_.
He could reveal in open day what had been done in secret, knew
everyone's most private thoughts, and when he extended his empty hand in
the air he drew it back full of coins bearing the inscription, "Say: God
is One." Among the moderate Shiites, who had more than one point of
contact with the Sufis, it is not a question of sorcery at all. For them
the doctrine of Hallaj, which he had also practised himself, meant that
by using abstinence, by refusing pleasure and by chastising the flesh,
man can lift himself gradually to the height of the elect and even of
angels. If he perseveres in this path he is gradually purged from
everything human, he receives the spirit of God as Jesus did, and all
that he does is done by God.
The Shiites say, moreover, that the reason for which Hallaj was put to
death should be found not in his utterances but in the astonishing
influence which he exercised over the highest classes of society, on
princes and their courts, and which caused much disquietude to others,
especially to the orthodox mullahs. Hallaj has even been judged not
unfavourably by those among the orthodox who were characterised by a
certain breadth of view, and who, like Ghazzali, although they disliked
free-thinking, yet wished for a religion of the heart, and were not
content with the dry orthodoxy of the great majority of theologians.
Ghazzali indeed has gone so far as to put a favourable construction on
the following sayings of Hallaj: "I am the Truth," "There is nothing in
Paradise except God." He justifies them on the ground of the speaker's
excessive love for God. In his eyes, as well as in those of other great
authorities, Hallaj is a saint and a martyr. The most learned
theologians of the tenth century, on the contrary, believed that he
deserved execution as an infidel and a blasphemer. Even the greatest
admirers of Hallaj, the Sufis, are not agreed regarding him. Some of
them question whether he were a thorough-going pantheist, and think that
he taught a numerical Pantheism, an immanence of the Deity in certain
souls only. But this is not the opinion of the majority of the Sufis.
The high esteem which they entertain for him is best understood by
comparing the account they give of his martyrdom with that by orthodox
writers. The latter runs as follows:
The common people of Bagdad were circulating reports that Hallaj could
raise the dead, and that the Jinn[21] were his slaves, and brought him
whatever he desired. Hamid, the vizier of the Caliph Muqtadir, was much
disturbed by this, and requested the Caliph to have Hallaj and his
partizans arrested. But the grand chamberlain Nasir was strongly in his
favour, and opposed this; his influence, however, being less than that
of the vizier, Hallaj and some of his followers were arrested. When the
latter were questioned, they admitted that they regarded their leader as
God, since he raised the dead; but when he was questioned himself, he
said, "God preserve me from claiming divinity or the dignity of a
prophet; I am a mortal man who adores the Most High."
The vizier then summoned two cadis[22] and the principal theologians,
and desired that they should give sentence against Hallaj. They answered
that they could not pronounce sentence without proofs and without
confession on the part of the accused. The vizier, foiled in his
attempt, caused Hallaj to be brought several times before him, and tried
by artfully devised questions to elicit from him some heretical
utterance, but in vain. Finally he succeeded in finding in one of his
books the assertion that if a man wished to make the pilgrimage to
Mecca, but was hindered from doing so by some reason or other, he could
perform the equivalent of it in the following way. He should go through
all the prescribed circuits in a chamber carefully cleansed and closed.
In this chamber also he should give a feast of the choicest food to
thirty orphans, should wait upon them himself, make them a present of
clothing, and give them each seven dirhems.[23] All this, he maintained,
would be a work more meritorious than the pilgrimage itself.
The vizier showed to the cadi Abou Amr this passage which scandalised
him. Abou Amr then asked Hallaj, "Whence did you derive this idea?"
Hallaj quoted a work of Hassan of Basra, from which he said he had taken
it. "It is a lie, O infidel, whose death is lawful," exclaimed the cadi;
"the book you speak of was expounded to us at Mecca by one of the
learned, but what you have written is not in it." The vizier eagerly
caught up the expressions "O infidel," etc., which escaped the cadi in
his excitement, and asked him to pronounce sentence of death. The cadi
refused; that, he said, was not his intention; but the vizier insisted,
and ended by obtaining the sentence of death, which was signed by all
the maulvies present. In vain Hallaj sought to prove that the
condemnation was unjust. "You have no right," he exclaimed, "to shed my
blood. My religion is Islam; I believe in the traditions handed down
from the Prophet, and I have written on this subject books which you can
find everywhere. I have always acknowledged the four Imams[24] and the
first four Caliphs. I invoke the help of God to save my life!"
He was taken to prison. The vizier despatched the sentence of death,
signed by the maulvies, to the Caliph, who ordered that Hallaj should be
handed to the Chief of Police and receive a thousand strokes of the rod,
and then another thousand if he did not die from the effects of the
first scourging, and finally be decapitated. The vizier, however, did
not transmit the order accurately, but modified it as follows: "If
Hallaj does not die under the blows of the rod, let him first have a
hand cut off, then a foot, then the other hand and foot. Lastly let his
head be cut off, and his body burnt."
Hallaj underwent the terrible punishment with admirable courage, and
when his body had been burnt the ashes were cast into the Tigris. But
his disciples did not believe in his death; they were persuaded that a
person resembling him had been martyred in his place, and that he would
show himself again after forty days. Some declared that they had met him
mounted on an ass on the road leading to Nahrawan, and had heard him
say, "Be not like those simpletons who think that I have been scourged
and put to death."
Thus far the theologians' account. That given by Fariduddin Attar in his
"Tazkirat-ul-Aulia" is as follows:
This is he who was a martyr in the way of truth, whose rank has become
exalted, whose outer and inner man were pure, who has been a pattern of
loyalty in love, whom an irresistible longing drew towards the
contemplation of the face of God; this is the enthusiast Mansur Hallaj,
may the mercy of God be upon him! He was intoxicated with a love whose
flames consumed him. The miracles he worked were such that the learned
were thunderstruck at them. He was a man whose range of vision was
immense, whose words were riddles, and profoundly versed in the
knowledge of mysteries. Born in the canton of Baida in the province of
Shiraz, he grew up at Wasit.
Abd Allah Khafif used to say, "Mansur really possessed the knowledge of
the truth." "I and Mansur," declared Shibli,[25] "followed the same
path; they regarded me as mad, and my life was saved thereby, while
Mansur perished because he was sane." If Mansur had been really astray
in error, the two learned men we have just quoted would not have spoken
of him in such terms. Many wise men, however, have reproached him for
revealing the mysteries of truth to the vulgar herd.
When he had grown up, he was two years in the service of Abd Allah
Teshtari. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and on his return became a
disciple of the Sufi Junaid. One day, when Mansur was plying him with
questions on certain obscure and difficult points, Junaid said, "O
Mansur, before very long you will redden the head of the stake."[26]
"The day when I redden the head of the stake," rejoined Mansur, "you
will cast away the garment of the dervish and assume that of ordinary
men." It is related that on the day when Mansur was taken to execution
all the Ulama[27] signed the sentence of death. "Junaid also must sign,"
said the Caliph. Junaid accordingly repaired to the college of the
Ulama, where, after putting on a mullah's robe and turban, he recorded
in writing his opinion that "though apparently Mansur deserved death,
inwardly he possessed the knowledge of the Most High."
Having left Bagdad, Mansur spent a year at Tashter, then he spent five
years in travelling through Khorassan, Seistan and Turkestan. On his
return to Bagdad, the number of his followers largely increased, and he
gave utterance to many strange sayings which excited the suspicions of
the orthodox. At last he began to say, "I am the Truth." These words
were repeated to the Caliph, and many persons renounced Mansur as a
religious leader and appeared as witnesses against him. Among these was
Junaid, to whom the Caliph said, "O Junaid, what is the meaning of this
saying of Mansur?" "O Caliph," answered Junaid, "this man should be put
to death, for such a saying cannot be reasonably explained." The Caliph
then ordered him to be cast into prison. There for a whole year he
continued to hold discussions with the learned. At the end of that time
the Caliph forbade that anyone should have access to him; in
consequence, no one went to see him for five months except Abd Allah
Khafif. Another time Ibn Ata sent someone to say to him, "O Sheikh,
withdraw what you said, so that you may escape death." "Nay, rather he
who sent you to me should ask forgiveness," replied Mansur. Ibn Ata,
hearing this, shed tears and said, "Alas, he is irreparably lost!"
In order to force him to retract, he was first of all given three
hundred blows with a rod, but in vain. He was then led to execution. A
crowd of about a hundred thousand men followed him, and as he looked
round on them, he cried, "True! True! True! I am the Truth!"
It is said that among them was a dervish who asked him, "What is love?"
"Thou shalt see," Mansur replied, "to-day and to-morrow and the day
after." And, as it happened, that day he was put to death, the next day
his body was burnt, and on the third his ashes were scattered to the
winds. He meant that such would be the results of his love to God. On
his son asking of him a last piece of advice, "While the people of the
world," he said, "spend their energies on earthly objects, do thou apply
thyself to a study, the least portion of which is worth all that men and
Jinn can produce--the study of truth."
As he walked along lightly and alertly, though loaded with many chains,
they asked him the reason of his confident bearing. "It is," he said,
"because I am going to the presence of the King." Then he added, "My
Host, in whom there is no injustice, has presented me with the drink
which is usually given to a guest; but when the cups have began to
circulate he has sent for the executioner with his sword and leathern
carpet. Thus fares it with him who drinks with the Dragon[28] in July."
When he reached the scaffold, he turned his face towards the western
gate of Bagdad, and set his foot on the first rung of the ladder, "the
first step heavenward," as he said. Then he girded himself with a
girdle, and, lifting up his hands towards heaven, turned towards Mecca,
and said exultantly, "Let it be as He has willed." When he reached the
platform of the scaffold, a group of his disciples called out to him,
"What do you say regarding us, thy disciples, and regarding those who
deny thy claims and are about to stone thee?" "They will have a two-fold
reward, and you only a single one," he answered, "for you limit
yourselves to having a good opinion of me, while they are carried on by
their zeal for the unity of God and for the written law. Now in the law
the doctrine of God's unity is fundamental, while a good opinion is
merely accessory."
Shibli the Sufi stood in front of him and cried, "Did we not tell thee
not to gather men together?"[29] Then he added, "O Hallaj, what is
Sufism?" "Thou seest," replied Hallaj, "the least part of it." "What is
then the highest?" asked Shibli. "Thou canst not attain to it," he
answered.
Then they all began to stone him. Shibli making common cause with the
others threw mud at him. Hallaj uttered a cry. "What," said one, "you
have not flinched under this hail of stones, and now you cry out because
of a little mud! Why is that?" "Ah!" he replied, "they do not know what
they are doing, and are excusable; but he grieves me because he knows I
ought not to be stoned at all."
When they cut off his hands, he laughed and said, "To cut off the hands
of a fettered man is easy, but to sever the links which bind me to the
Divinity would be a task indeed." Then they cut off his two feet. He
said smiling, "With these I used to accomplish my earthly journeys, but
I have another pair of feet with which I can traverse both worlds. Hew
these off if ye can!" Then, with his bleeding stumps, he rubbed his
cheeks and arms. "Why do you do that?" he was asked. "I have lost much
blood," he answered, "and lest you should think the pallor of my
countenance betokens fear, I have reddened my cheeks." "But why your
arms." "The ablutions of love must be made in blood," he replied.
Then his eyes were torn out. At this a tumult arose in the crowd. Some
burst into tears, others cast stones at him. When they were about to cut
out his tongue, he exclaimed, "Wait a little; I have something to say."
Then, lifting his face towards heaven, he said, "My God, for the sake of
these sufferings, which they inflict on me because of Thee, do not
inflict loss upon them nor deprive them of their share of felicity.
Behold, upon the scaffold of my torture I enjoy the contemplation of Thy
glory." His last words were, "Help me, O Thou only One, to whom there is
no second!" and he recited the following verse of the Koran, "Those who
do not believe say, 'Why does not the day of judgment hasten?' Those who
believe tremble at the mention of it, for they know that it is near."
Then they cut out his tongue, and he smiled. Finally, at the time of
evening prayer, his head was cut off. His body was burnt, and the ashes
thrown into the Tigris.
The high opinion entertained of Mansur Hallaj by Fariduddin Attar, as
seen in the above account, has been echoed by subsequent Sufi writers.
Jalaluddin Rumi, the great mystic poet, says of him:
"Pharaoh said 'I am the Truth,'[30] and was laid low.
Mansur Hallaj said 'I am the Truth,' and escaped free.
Pharaoh's 'I' was followed by the curse of God.
Mansur's 'I' was followed by the mercies of God.
Because Pharaoh was a stone, Mansur a ruby,
Pharaoh an enemy of light, Mansur a friend.
Mansur's 'I am He,' was a deep mystic saying,
Expressing union with the light, not mere incarnation."[31]
Similarly Abdurrahman, the chief poet of the Afghans says:
"Every one who is crucified like Mansur,
After death his cross becomes a fruitful tree."
[21] Spirits.
[22] Judges.
[23] A small coin.
[24] The founders of the four orthodox Sects.
[25] A celebrated contemporary Sufi
[26] Referring to punishment by impaling.
[27] Learned men.
[28] i.e. God.
[29] Koran V, v 70.
[30] According to the Koran, Pharaoh claimed divinity.
[31] Whinfield's Masnavi p. 248.