AL ASHARI SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

 Here’s the English translation:

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*Tazkira Sufiya-e-Kiram Series*

*5) Abul Mughith Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj al-Maslub*

Hallaj is among those whose personality became a subject of dispute after his death, and to this day no verdict has been reached. It is true that, thanks to the passage of time, Hallaj’s mysterious personality has become very fascinating, and today everyone sympathizes with him and speaks well of him. Yet after his death, in the fourth century AH, the _ulema_, the gnostics, the Sufis, and the scholars of religion split into three groups, which exist to this day. One group considers him a gnostic, a God-realized man, and a true believer. A second group, on the contrary, declares him an atheist, a heretic, a Qarmatian, and an infidel. Apart from these two groups, there is a third group that withholds judgment about him — it neither calls him a believer nor an infidel. I belong to this group. The reason is obvious: the testimonies about Hallaj that have reached me are contradictory. I record those testimonies from prison in the order of their compilation.

*Mention of Hallaj in the biographies of Sufis and in their works —*

Al-Kalabadhi (d. 385 AH) recorded several sayings of Hallaj in various places in his work _Kitab al-Ta‘arruf_, but as a precaution he did not mention his name, which proves that in his time some authoritative _ulema_ and Sufis had rejected Hallaj.

Abu Nasr al-Sarraj (d. 378 AH) mentioned Hallaj in five places in his work _Kitab al-Luma‘_, and after his name each time he wrote _Rahmatullah ‘alayh_ [may Allah have mercy on him], which shows that in his view he was a believer.

Abu Talib al-Makki (d. 386 AH) did not quote any saying of Hallaj in his work _Qut al-Qulub_.

Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412 AH) wrote in his work _Tabaqat al-Sufiyya_ — [text incomplete in original].

Professor Browne writes in his famous work _A Literary History of Persia_: “Hallaj was undoubtedly Iranian, it cannot be said with certainty whether he was a native of Nishapur, or Merv, or Taliqan, or Kuhistan.”[though]

The author of the _Fihrist_ writes that he was a charlatan who declared himself a Sufi. He spoke in their terminology and claimed mastery in every science, although he was ignorant of all the sciences. He had some acquaintance with alchemy. Before his disciples he claimed divinity and taught _hulul_. To kings he would say, “I am a Shi‘i,” and to the common people he would say, “I am a Sufi.” He claimed that God had incarnated in him.[incarnation]

When he was arrested and brought before Abul Hasan Ali ibn Isa (the vizier of the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir), and the said vizier examined him, he found him ignorant of all religious sciences. When he was sent to prison, there he presented himself as a Sunni. In reality, he was an appointed _da‘i_ of Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam of the Shi‘a. Accordingly, he was arrested in that capacity in Kuhistan, Iran, and was flogged. In the _Fihrist_, the titles of 46 of his books are listed. He was arrested in 912 CE and in 922 CE first his hands and feet were cut off, then he was executed and his body was burned in fire.[missionary]

According to Arif, among Shi‘a he would become a Shi‘i, among Sunnis a Sunni, among Mu‘tazilites a Mu‘tazilite, and he was skilled in sorcery. He called himself an incarnation of God and would tell one of his disciples, “You are Noah,” to another, “You are Moses,” and to a third, “You are Muhammad.” To Rafi Harith he would say, “I have caused their spirits to enter into you.”

The historian al-Suli, who had met Hallaj several times, writes that he was an ignorant man who made claims. Wearing the garb of a Sufi, he would display his sanctity and asceticism.