Martydrom of al-Hallaj & unity of the Existence: the Condemners and the Commenders

Abstract

Wahdat al-wujud is a very most polemical topic discussed in the world of Islamic Tasawwuf or Sufism since 2nd century of Islamic history. This issue continued to be debated from time to time until today. Wahdat al-wujud or Oneness of the Absolute Existent had made conflict between Muslim scholars. Some scholars become the supporters of this theory and some against this idea. One of the important figures related to this term was al-Hallaj. Al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj was a controversial writer and teacher of Islamic mysticism. He is famous for his martyrdom for heresy at the hands of the Abbasid rulers which arousing admiration in some and repression on the others. The drama of his life and death has been considered a reference point in the history of Sufism. His name is Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn bin Mansur al-Hallaj al-Baydawi al-Wasiti. He was born in Shushtar, Khuzistan province of Persia in 858 AD. At an early age al-Hallaj went to live in the city of Wasit, an important Iraqi centre for textiles, trade and Arab culture. His father had become a Muslim and may have supported the family by carding wool. Therefore, his father was called al-Hallaj (cotton-carder) and then this name continued to be carried by him. Al-Hallaj was attracted to an ascetic way of life at an early age. Not satisfied with merely having learned the Quran by heart, he was motivated to understand its deeper and inner meanings. During his adolescence (c. 874-894), at a time when Islamic mysticism was in its formative period, he began to withdraw from the world and to seek the company of individuals who were able to instruct him in the Sufi way. His teachers, Sahl al-Tustari, 'Amr ibn 'Uthman al- Makki, Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd al-Baghdadi, and Abu al-Hasan al-Nuri, were highly respected among the masters of Sufism. Studying first under Sahl al-Tustari, who lived a quiet and solitary life in the city of Tustar in Khuzistan, al-Hallaj later became a disciple of al-Makki of Basra. During this period he married the daughter of the Sufi Abu Ya'qub al-Aqta'. He concluded his instruction in the mystical way under al-Junayd of Baghdad, a brilliant intellect, under whom al- Makki had likewise studied. But al-Hallaj was later rejected by them both. During the next period of his life (c. 895-910), al-Hallaj undertook extensive travels, preaching, teaching, and writing. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he followed a strict discipline for a year. Returning to such regions as Fars, Khuzistan, and Khorasan, he preached and wrote about the way to an intimate relationship with God. In the course of his journeys he attracted many disciples, some of whom accompanied him on a second pilgrimage to Mecca. Afterward, he returned to his family in Baghdad and then set out by sea for a mission to a territory hitherto not penetrated by Islam at that time: India and Turkistan. Following a third pilgrimage to Mecca, he again returned to Baghdad (c. 908). The milieu in which al-Hallaj preached and wrote was filled with social, economic, political, and religious tensions: all factors that contributed to his later arrest. His thought and activity had been provocative and had been interpreted in various ways, some of which left him highly suspect in the eyes of civil and religious authorities. The Sufi movement, in general, had