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Mansur Al-Hallaj

Persian mystic, poet and Sufi teacher (c.858–922)

Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 – 26 March 922) was a Persian monist philosopher, mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism. His full name was Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj.

I am the Truth.

Quotes

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I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I asked: Who art Thou?
He answered: Thou.
 
You are He Who fills all place
But place does not know where You are.
 
In my subsistence is my annihilation;
In my annihilation, I remain You.
 
Concealment does not veil Him
His pre-existence preceded time,
His being preceded not-being,
His eternity preceded limit.
 
The beloved does not drink a single drop of water without seeing His Face in the cup.
 
He is hidden in His manifestation, manifest in His concealing.
 
God, Most High, is the very one who Himself affirms His unity by the tongue of whatever of His creatures He wishes.
  • Ana al-Haqq
    • I am the Truth.
      • As quoted in From Primitives to Zen : A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions (1967) by Mircea Eliade, p. 523; this is the primary assertion for which he was condemned as a heretic. "al-Haqq" ("The Truth") is one of the most holy names and attributes of Allah (God), and by this statement his persecutors asserted that Al Hallaj was claiming to be God.
  • I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart.
    He said, "Who are you?" I said, "I am You."
    You are He Who fills all place
    But place does not know where You are.
    In my subsistence is my annihilation;
    In my annihilation, I remain You.
    • Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (1978) by Steven T. Katz, p. 92; four centuries later the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart would make a very similar assertion: "The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love."
    • Variant translations:
    • I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I asked: Who art Thou?
      He answered: Thou.
      • As quoted in Sufism : The Mystical Doctrines and Methods of Islam (1976) by William Stoddart , p. 83
    • I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
      And said: "Who are you?" He answered: "You!
      • As quoted in In the Company of Friends : Dreamwork Within a Sufi Group (1994) by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, p. 86
    • I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart, and I said "Who are you?" and he said "Your Self."
      • As quoted in The Modern Alchemist : A Guide to Personal Transformation (1994) by Iona Miller, p. 119
    • I saw my Lord with the Eye of my heart,
      And I said: Truly there is no doubt that it is You.
      It is You that I see in everything;
      And I do not see You through anything (but You)      .
  • Concealment does not veil Him
    His pre-existence preceded time,
    His being preceded not-being,
    His eternity preceded limit.
    • On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 15
  • Other than He cannot be qualified by two (opposite) qualities at one time; yet With Him they do not create opposition.
    He is hidden in His manifestation, manifest in His concealing.
    • On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 16
  • He acts without contact,
    instructs without meeting,
    guides without pointing.
    Desires do not conflict with Him,
    thoughts do not mingle with Him:
    His essence is without qualification (takyeef),
    His action without effort (takleef).
    • On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 16
  • The beloved does not drink a single drop of water without seeing His Face in the cup. Allah is He Who flows between the pericardium and the heart, just as the tears flow from the eyelids.
  • God, Most High, is the very one who Himself affirms His unity by the tongue of whatever of His creatures He wishes. If He Himself affirms His unity by my tongue, it is He and His affair. Otherwise, brother, I have nothing to do with affirming God's Unity.
    • As quoted in Words of Ecstasy in Sufism (1985) by Carl W. Ernst, p. 45
    • Variant translation: Allah, Most High, is the very One Who Himself affirms His Unity by the tongue of whomsoever of His creatures He wishes. If He affirms His Unity in my tongue it is He Who does so, and it is His affair. Otherwise, my brother, I myself have nothing to do with affirming Allah's Unity.
  • Love is in the pleasure of possession, but in the Love of Allah there is no pleasure of possession, because the stations of the Reality are wonderment, the cancelling of the debt which is owed, and the blinding of vision. The Love of the human being for God is a reverence which penetrates the very depths of his being, and which is not permitted to be given except to Allah alone. The Love of Allah for the human being is that He Himself gives proof of Himself, not revealing Himself to anything that is not He.
  • In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate, Who manifests Himself through everything, the revelation of a clear knowing to whomsoever He wishes, peace be upon you, my son. This praise belongs to Allah Who manifests Himself on the head of a pin to whom He wishes, so that one testifies that He is not, and another testifies that there is none other than He. But the witnessing in the denying of Him is not rejected, and the witnessing in the affirming of Him is not praised.

Quotes about al-Hallaj

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This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!

The ruby and the sunrise are one. ~ Rumi

 
"I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement. ~ Rumi
  • From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions, but I became something hungrier than a lion.
    • Rumi, as translated in We Are Three : New Rumi Poems (1987) translated by Coleman Barks, p. 1
  • He says, "There’s nothing left of me.
    I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
    Is it still a stone, or a world
    made of redness? It has no resistance
    to sunlight."

    This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
    and told the truth!

    The ruby and the sunrise are one.

    Be courageous and discipline yourself.
    Completely become hearing and ear, and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.

    • Rumi, as translated in Head and Heart : A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred (2002) by Victor Mansfield
  • This is what is signified by the words Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God." People imagine that it is a presumptuous claim, whereas it is really a presumptuous claim to say Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the slave of God"; and Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the servant of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement.
    • Rumi, commenting on the famous expression for which al-Hallaj was executed as a blasphemer, as translated in The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí, Vol. 4, part 7, edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1940) p. 248
    • Variant translation: People imagine that it is a presumptive claim, whereas it is really a presumtive claim to say "I am the slave of God"; and "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says "I am the slave of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement.
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