al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj

الحسين بن منصور الحلاج

Al-Muqtadir ordered al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj killed and burned in 309. Al-Tabari reports he was given a thousand lashes and had his hands and feet cut off ¹. According to al-Suyuti, he was brought into Baghdad on a camel in 301, crucified alive, and proclaimed: 'This is one of the Qaramita missionaries; know him.' He was then held until he was killed in 309, on the fatwa of the judge Abu Umar and the jurists and scholars that his blood was lawful. It was rumoured that he claimed divinity, taught the indwelling of the divine in the nobles (ashraf), and wrote to his followers from 'the radiant light'; when he was examined, nothing of the Qur'an, hadith or jurisprudence was found with him ². Ibn al-Nadim says his origin and birthplace were disputed, with Khurasan, Nishapur, Marw, al-Taliqan, Rayy and the Jibal all named, and nothing certain is known of him or his town. Ibn al-Nadim reports, in the hand of Tayfur, that he was a vain and deceitful man who affected Sufi doctrine and its vocabulary, claimed every science though he had none, knew a little alchemy, aimed to overturn states, claimed divinity before his followers, preached indwelling, showed Shi'i doctrines to rulers and Sufi ones to the common people. When seized he was handed to Ali ibn Isa, who examined him and found him empty of the Qur'an and its sciences, of jurisprudence, hadith and poetry ³. Ibn al-Nadim also says he read, in the hand of Abu al-Husayn Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Tahir, a note on al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj: a crafty, showy man who affected Sufi doctrine and its vocabulary, claimed every science though lacking them, knew some alchemy, was ignorant, bold and corrupt, audacious towards rulers, committed injustices and aimed to overturn states ⁴. Ibn al-Nadim also read, in the hand of Abu al-Hasan ibn Sinan, that his affair became public and his name spread in 279. The cause of his arrest was that the postmaster of Sus passed a place called al-Rabad and al-Qitma and saw a woman in one of the alleys say, 'If you leave me, I will speak'; she was seized, and she reported that a man called al-Hallaj had lodged beside her house, with people who came to him in secret and spoke strange words. The place was raided and a man with white hair and beard was taken, with him al-'ayn, musk, clothing, safflower, ambergris and saffron. He denied being al-Hallaj until a man of Sus recognised him by a blow to his head. The sultan had seized a servant of al-Hallaj called al-Dabbas, made him swear that he was seeking al-Hallaj and offered him money; he identified him at Sus. Al-Hallaj was handed to Nasr the chamberlain, who tried to beguile him; among his writings was: 'I drown the people of Noah and destroy Ad and Thamud.' It is said that he summoned Abu Sahl al-Nawbakhti and told his messenger: 'I am the head of a doctrine, and behind me are thousands who follow it through following me; grow me hair at the front of my head, for the hair there has gone.' The messenger did not return to him ⁵. Ibn al-Athir says he displayed asceticism and Sufism and claimed marvels: he produced winter fruit in summer and summer fruit in winter, reached his hand into the air and brought it back filled with dirhams inscribed with a Qur'anic verse, which he called dirhams of power; he told people what they had eaten and done in their houses, so that many were captivated and believed in his indwelling. People disagreed about him as they did about the Messiah: some said his divine part had entered him, some that he was a friend of God whose marvels were those of the righteous, and some that he was a conjuror and a lying sorcerer whom the jinn obeyed. He came from Khurasan to Iraq and went to Mecca, where he stayed for years in al-Hijr, never sheltering under a roof in winter or summer, and fasting continually. At nightfall a jug of water and a loaf were brought him; he bit three morsels from the edges of the loaf and left the rest, which they took. Abd Allah al-Maghribi, the Sufi shaykh of that time, saw him on a rock on Mount Abu Qubays, barefoot and bareheaded, sweat running to the ground, and said: 'He is enduring and strengthening himself to bear God's decree' ⁶. Ibn al-Jawzi says that on Monday, the last day of Dhu al-Qa'da 309, the head of al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj was taken out of the sultan's palace to be carried to Khurasan ⁷.