AL-HALLAJ

   Husein Ibn Manshur Al-Hallaj or usually called Al-Hallaj is a Persian mystic, revolutionary writer and teacher of Sufism born around 858 CE in Fars province of Persia. Al-Hallaj married Ummu al-Husain and had three sons. In his early youth, he had learned Arabic grammar, reading the Qur'an, interpretation and theology by took up with a number of leading contemporary Sufis. He led the first Islamic mission into India and Turkistan and gained a number of followers. One of his famous teachings is Al-Hullul. Al-Hullul is an understanding which states that in man there is divinity after human nature obliterated with the mortal process. According to Al-Hallaj there are three levels of mortal:

1^st  : soul desires

2^nd: fantasy, feelings, actions

3^rd : strength and consciousness

      Al-Hallaj is one of mystical leader. The word “mystic” is descended from the Greek “mystikos”, meaning “secret”. A mystic’s beliefs are based on a religion’s mainstream doctrine, but extend to incorporate other practices such as yoga or meditation to reach a higher state of awareness or unity with Godhead. In Islam, mysticism called Sufism. Sufism is famous for the dance called whirling dervishes. They dance with constantly rotating at one axis. Aim to reach the source of all perfection and union with God. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music and focusing on God.

      Al-hallaj loved to take up paradoxical positions, speaking of his admiration for the devil and rejecting Allah’s injunction to bow down to Adam. This statement contained in one of his famous works that is Kitab Al-Tawasin. His most grievous error was to say, ‘Ana al-Haqq’, which means, ‘I am the Real’ or ‘I am the Truth’. Al-Haqq is one of the qualities attributed to Allah and this led to the allegation that Al-Hallaj had claimed to be God. Al-Hallaj completed three pilgrimages to Mecca and eventually settled in Baghdad around 908 CE. In Baghdad, he attracted the suspicious of the civil authorities and was suspected having played a part in instigating a rebellion of black slaves. His attempts to preach moral and political reform in Baghdad led to his arrest and spent eight years in jail.

       He died on 26^th March 922 AD in Baghdad, Iraq through a brutal execution. In many ways, his life parallels that of Jesus, for whom he expressed admiration. For some clerics of Islam, his death justified on the grounds of heresy, because Islam does not accept the view that a human being can be united with God and because of the Truth (al-Haqq) is one of the names of God, then this means that al-Hallaj claimed divinity himself, Sufis contemporaneous with al-Hallaj was also surprised by his statement, because they believed that a Sufi should not revealing all of his mystical experiences to others.