Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, known as Hallaj, was a Persian mystic and poet of the 9th and 10th centuries. Born in Fars, Persia, he embraced Sufism and became renowned for his intense devotion to God and radical mystical experiences. Hallaj’s teachings, notably his concept of “annihilation in God,” stirred controversy and led to accusations of heresy and blasphemy. His utterance “Ana al-Haqq” (I am the Truth) particularly incited opposition and ultimately led to his arrest, torture, and execution in 922 CE. Despite persecution, Hallaj remained steadfast in his beliefs until his death. His life and teachings have had a profound impact on Islamic mysticism, inspiring spiritual seekers with the depth of mystical experience and the challenges of expressing divine truths. Hallaj is revered by many Sufis as a martyr and symbol of mystical union with the Divine.
Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj Quotes
01. “Between me and you there lingers an ‘It is I’, which torments me. Ah! lift through mercy this ‘It is I’ from between us both!”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
02. “If you were to place before me Hellfire, with all it contains of torment, I would think lightly of it in comparison with my state when you are hidden from me. Forgive the people and don’t forgive me. Have mercy upon them, and don’t have mercy upon me. I do not intercede with you for myself or beseech you for what is due to me. Do with me what you will.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
03. “Satan said: Because this keepsake was given to me by my beloved, I don’t care if it is good or bad. Anyone who distinguishes between the two is still immature in love. From the hand of the friend it matters not whether it is honey or poison, sweet or sour, grace or wrath. When the king bestows his own special cloak and cap on a lover, nothing else matters.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
04. “Divine love is realized through suffering; man can be united with the divine will by accepting suffering and even longing for it.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
05. “When God wishes to conquer a heart, He entrusts it with secrets, which the heart then perceives and proclaims.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
06. “The meaning of noble character is that the harshness of men does not affect you once you have become attentive to God.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
07. “When the servant reaches the station of gnosis, God makes even his stray thoughts a means of inspiration, and He guards his inmost being lest thoughts of other-than-Him occur there.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
08. “Anal-Haq ‘I am God’. I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I said: ‘Who art thou?’ He answered: ‘Thou’.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
09. “The sign of the gnostic is that he is empty both of this world and of the Hereafter.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
10. “God transcends all human qualities, and He is other than ‘man’. The mystic only realizes Divine Attributes and reaches the stage of unicity (Wahidiyat) in a high spiritual state. Thus, Hallaj was not a pantheist.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
11. “Because of what I have found of the flowing forth of thy love and the fragrance of thy proximity, I feel contempt for the firm mountains and the earth and the heavens. If Thou wert to offer to sell me Paradise for a moment of my time with Thee, or for one moment of the least of my spiritual states, I would not buy it.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
12. “Whoever desires freedom, let him be constant in servitude.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
13. “It is enough for the lover that he should make the One single. It implies that the end of love lies in the total destruction of the lover’s individuality.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
14. “When Hallaj was in prison, he was asked: ‘What is love?’ He answered: ‘You will see it today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.’ And that day they cut off his hands and feet, and the next day they put him on the gallows, and the third day they gave his ashes to the wind.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
15. “The one possessing insight hits his target with the first arrow he looses. He never turns to interpretation, speculations, or suppositions.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
16. “He maintains the absolute transcendence of God beyond the dimensions of created things, his qidam, the pre-eternity that separates Him forever from the hadees, ‘What is created in time.'”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
17. “Love is the very essence of God. It is love which lies at the root of all things; it is the cause of the origin of the world and the heavens.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
18. “Do not let yourself be deceived by God, nor cut off your hope from Him; do not wish His love, and do not resign from loving Him. (Some paradoxes).”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
19. “Suffering is He Himself, whereas happiness comes from Him.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
20. “The inner reality of love is that you remain always with your Beloved and strip off your own qualities.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
21. “The self-awareness proceeds from Him and returns to Him, operates in Him, but they are not logically necessary.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
22. “If the servant fulfills the stations of servitude completely, he becomes free of the hardships of servitude.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
23. “In His Perfect isolation God loves Himself, praises Himself and manifests Himself by love. It was this first manifestation of love in the Divine Absolute which determined the multiplicity of His attributes and His names.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
24. “The rose, thrown by the friend, hurts more than any stone.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
25. “The one who truly trusts in God does not eat anything while there is someone in the land who is more deserving of it than he.”
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
26. “Love is that you remain standing in front of your beloved when you are deprived of your qualities and when
— Husain Bin Mansoor Hallaj
