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Event / publication / experimentRootsMarch 922

al-Ḥallāj and "Anā al-Ḥaqq"

al-ḤallājLouis Massignon

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For everyone

Al-Ḥallāj is a Sufi known for the words "Anā al-Ḥaqq" ("I am the Truth", al-Ḥaqq being one of the names of God). After a long trial he was executed in Baghdad in 922. What his words meant and why he was punished have been debated for centuries. Some saw him as having strayed from the religion, while many Sufis read his words as an expression of the servant passing away in God's being (fanāʾ). Historians also stress the political side of the trial.

For specialists

Al-Ḥallāj's Kitāb al-Ṭawāsīn and his poems describe the experience of divine love and union in intense language. His trial took place during rivalries over the vizierate at the Abbasid court; the charges also included sayings that another rite could replace the pilgrimage. Louis Massignon's comprehensive study of 1922 made him known in modern scholarship and in the West. Poets such as ʿAṭṭār, Rūmī and, in Anatolia, Nesīmī recalled him as one who gave his life for love.

Claims

Positions

The jurists who condemned him and his critics
His words and some of his views erase the distinction between God and the servant and endanger religious observance.[1]
Later Sufis (ʿAṭṭār, Rūmī and others)
It was not al-Ḥallāj speaking but the Truth manifest in him; the words express the state of fanāʾ and divine love.[1]
Historians
His trial and execution were tied not only to religious grounds but also to political rivalries at the Abbasid court and his influence on the public.[2][1]

Connections

Parent

Sufism (taṣawwuf)

Related

al-Junayd al-Baghdādī and "sober" SufismIbn ʿArabī and the unity of beingRūmī and the MasnaviRābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya and divine love

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Sources

  1. EncyclopediaHallâc-ı Mansûr. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisiislamansiklopedisi.org.trarchive
  2. BookMassignon, L.; Mason, H. (trans.) (1982). The Passion of al-Hallāj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Princeton University Press (4 vols.; French original 1922)

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APA

Athena contributors. (2026). al-Ḥallāj and "Anā al-Ḥaqq". Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/hallac/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_hallac,
  title        = {al-Ḥallāj and "Anā al-Ḥaqq"},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/hallac/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 28, 2026 · Last changed: September 28, 2026 · Page history

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