“Al-Hallaj and I are of one love and one belief, but my madness saved me, while his intelligence destroyed him.”-Ash-Shibli
Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 – March 26, 922) was a mystic, revolutionary writer and pious teacher of Sufism most famous for his poetry, accusation of heresy and for his execution at the orders of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir after a long, drawn-out investigation.
Letter to Abu Sahal Nawbakti: al-Hallaj Claimed to be a Deputy of the 12th Imam
Mansur al-Hallaj declared in a letter to Abu Sahl bin Ismail bin Ali Nawbakti that he, al-Hallaj, was a Deputy of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi ibn al-Hasan al-Askari during the lesser Occultation. The self appointed Jafarite clergy who wanted to claim this office for themselves, immediately felt the threat of al-Hallaj’s claim and lobbied along with the Sunnite clergy to the Abbasid Caliphate to have al-Hallaj executed. Mansur al-Hallaj was executed by the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir on March 26th, 922.
The rejection of al-Hallaj’s claim to Deputyship of the Imam by the Sunni and Shiite clergy became the inception of an unspoken yet major internal split between the Sufi Saints (Awliya known as al-Abdaal, Aqtaab etc) who claim to be the actual representatives of the Mahdi , and the Shiite and Sunnite clergy, both of whom regard themselves as the true representatives and forerunners to the Mahdi.
Statement on Haqiqat i-Muhammadiyya (S)
In his Kiitab at-Tawasin he wrote in praise of Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him: “All the Lights of the Prophets, may peace be upon them all,proceeded from his Light. He was before all, and his name is the first in the Book of Destiny. He was known before all things and all beings, and he will endure after the end of all. By his guidance, all eyes have attained to sight. All knowledge is merely a drop. All wisdom merely a handful from his stream; all time is merely an hour from his life.” [SufiMaster.org]
Regarding the Fuqaha and Religious Clergy
In a letter to one of his close beloveds al-Hallaj wrote: “May Allah veil you from the outside of the Religious Law, and may He reveal to you the Reality of unbelief (al-haqiqa al-kufr), because the outside of the Religious Law is a hidden idolatry, while the Reality of unbelief is a manifest knowing.
In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate, Who manifests Himself through everything (tajalla ma`rifa jaliya), the revelation of a clear knowing to whomsoever He wishes, peace be upon you, my son. This praise belongs to Allah Who manifests Himself on the head of a pin to whom He wishes, so that one testifies that He is not, and another testifies that there is none other than He. But the witnessing in the denying of Him is not rejected, and the witnessing in the affirming of Him is not praised. And the purpose of this letter is that I charge you not to be deceived by Allah, neither to despair of Him, and not to covet His Love, and not to be satisfied with not being His lover, not to affirm Him, and not to deny Him, and beware of speaking about the Oneness of Allah! Peace.” [SufiMaster.org]