Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic 

Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chicago: ABC 

International Group, 1996); Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The 

Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Al-halal wal-haram fi 

al-Islam). Translated by Kamal El-Helbawi, M. Moinud-

din Siddiqui, and Syed Shukry (Indianapolis: American 

Trust Publications, 1960).

al-Hallaj, al-Husayn ibn Mansur

 

(857–

922)  controversial early Sufi remembered for his 

proclamation “I am the Truth” and for the martyr’s 

death he suffered at the hands of Muslim authorities 

in Baghdad

Born in the Fars region of southern Iran, al-

Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj moved with his 

family to Wasit, a town in central Iraq. His father 

probably worked in the textile industry (hallaj is 

Arabic for a person in the cotton or wool carder 

profession). In his youth, al-Hallaj memorized the 

q

Uran

 and studied s

UFism

 with Sahl al-Tustari (d. 

896), but he was not initiated as a Sufi until he 

was 20 years old. Marriage did not sway him from 

his spiritual quest, and, traveling between i

ran

, 

i

raq

, and m

ecca

, he reportedly gained a following 

of 400 disciples. He was also said to have visited 

i

ndia

, Central Asia, and the tomb of J

esUs

 in Jeru-

salem. After performing the 

haJJ

 to Mecca for the 

third time, he returned to his family in b

aghdad

and created a model of the k

aaba

 in his house. 

Al-Hallaj’s affiliations with rebels, Shiis, and non-

Muslims eventually aroused the suspicions of 

conservative Sunnis and political authorities. 

Some of his former Sufi associates even accused 

him of magic and witchcraft. Moreover, while 

engaged in his spiritual quest for God, he made 

public sermons and statements that angered his 

opponents. In one of these, he said that Muslims 

could fulfill the hajj duty by performing circum-

ambulations in their hearts and giving charity to 

the poor at home. His most famous utterance was, 

“I am the Truth,” which his enemies interpreted to 

be an assertion of his own divinity. In the Islamic 

worldview, Truth (haqq) was regarded as an attri-

bute of God. Sufis made such statements (sha-

thiyyat) while in a state of ecstasy, implying that 

they were speaking in God’s voice, not their own. 

Al-Hallaj soon became implicated in the religious 

and political intrigues of 10th-century Baghdad 

and was imprisoned for nine years. Finally put on 

trial by his enemies in 922, he was charged with 

blasphemy

, beaten, and crucified. His remains 

were burned and thrown into the Tigris River, 

preventing his family and friends from giving him 

a proper Muslim burial or from venerating him as 

a saint. Al-Hallaj consequently has a mixed legacy, 

remembered by some as a heretic and by others as 

a martyred 

saint

. His sayings were written down 

and collected by his followers. He is also credited 

for having written Kitab al-Tawasin, an assemblage 

of meditations on m

Uhammad

, the prophet’s n

ight

J

oUrney

 

and

  a

scent

, and s

atan

’s dialogues with 

God and m

oses

.

See also 

apostasy

; 

FUnerary

 

ritUals

; 

haqiqa

;

J

Unayd

, a

bU

 

al

-q

asim

 

ibn

 m

Uhammad

; 

martyrdom

.