Al-Hallaj 858 – 922
Mansur al-Hallaj was a Persian Sufi mystic, preacher, and poet whose ecstatic utterances and public life made him one of the most controversial and revered figures of early Sufi history. After long years of travel and ascetic practice from Mecca to Sind and Khurasan, he settled in Baghdad, where his open declaration Ana al-Haqq, I am the Truth, scandalized many traditional jurists and drew the suspicion of the Abbasid court. He was tried for heresy and political subversion, imprisoned for years, and finally executed by torture and dismemberment in 922. His martyrdom shaped the Sufi imagination for centuries and made him a permanent symbol of the dangers and graces of mystical love.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Persian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Al-Hallaj:
“I am the Truth.”
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Attributed to Al-Hallaj:
“I have seen my Lord with the eye of my heart.”
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Attributed to Al-Hallaj:
“Between me and Thee, there is only I; remove the I, and only Thou remains.”
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Attributed to Al-Hallaj:
“Love is the closest companion of the seeker, even when it leads to the gallows.”
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Attributed to Al-Hallaj:
“He who tastes the wine of divine love forgets every other taste.”