Last words of Mansoor Hallaj
Three hundred lashes with a staff were inflicted on Hallaj’s body, **and at every blow a voice was heard to clearly say, “O Mansur al-Hallaj, fear not, bear the punishment.” **His executioners then draped thirteen heavy iron chains around his body and he was made to walk to the scaffold, like Christ bearing his cross along the Via Dolorosa. A hundred thousand citizens of Baghdad were said to have assembled to watch the execution. Hallaj walked proudly to the scaffold, his gaze passing over the crowd as he repeated, “Haq, Haq, Anal-Haq” – “Truth, Truth, I am the Truth.”
Upon reaching the steps of the scaffold, he kissed the wood and looked up with a smile. When questioned about his apparent joy, he replied: “This is a happy time, for I am returning Home. My Friend is not iniquitous. He gave me the best wine to drink, just like the Lord offers to his honored guests. I drank my fill. Then he called forth the sword to punish me for being drunk in the month of prohibition.” Hallaj’s son then cried out in anguish for his father’s last instructions. “The whole world believes that ethical behavior leads to God’s Truth,” began Hallaj: “But seek instead God’s Divine Grace. Even if you gain but a single particle of it, it is more precious that all of the virtuous deeds of angels and men.”
Hallaj ascended the steps and turning towards Mecca he raised his hands in prayer, saying: **“What God knows, no man knows. You have bestowed upon me what I sought.” **
The Sufi teacher Shebli then stepped forward and asked, “Hallaj, what is Sufism?”
Hallaj answered: “The lowest level of Sufism is what you are witnessing today.”
“Then what is the highest level?” asked Shebli.
“It is beyond your comprehension,” answered Hallaj.
The Caliph next gave the order for the assembled crowd to stone Hallaj, who endured the onslaught of rocks in heroic silence. The Caliph then commanded Shebli to cast a stone also. But Shebli, not wishing to himself harm the condemned saint, chose to throw a flower attached to a clod of earth instead. Hallaj cried out in pain when the clod hit him, and when asked to explain the reason, he replied: “Those who have cast stones know not what they are doing. But he who cast that clod is aware of everything he does.”
Hallaj’s hands and feet were then tied to the stake, and with a single stroke of his sword the executioner severed Hallaj’s hands. As the blood spurted out from his wrists it was seen to form the words ‘I am the Truth’ (Anal-Haq) as it poured onto the wooden boards of the scaffold. Hallaj looked up and said, “It is an easy thing to cut off the hands of a bound man. But a true man is he who cuts off the hands of those who try to tear down the attributes of God’s crown.”
Then the executioner cut off his feet. Hallaj raised his eyes to heaven and said, “With these feet I walked upon an earthly journey. But other feet I have, which even now are making the journey between the two worlds.”
Hallaj then rubbed the bloody stumps of his wrists over his arms, shoulders and face, saying: “This I do because much blood has already flowed from my body, and I do not want you to think that I have grown pale from fear. Today I am happy, because I am adorned in the heroic blood of a martyr. The ablution of Love is only perfect when it is made with blood.”
The executioners then plucked out Hallaj’s eyes and cast them upon the ground. Then they severed his ears and nose. A great uproar arose from the crowd. Some cast stones and words of derision, others wept with prayers of pity. An executioner then sought to pull Hallaj’s tongue from his mouth, but Hallaj drew back and said: “O God. Permit me one final word. I am so grateful that you have kept me steadfast and true. I wish that you would bestow this grace upon my persecutors also.” Upon hearing these words the crowd unleashed a hail of stones and angry cries.
Hallaj’s last words were, “The Love of the One separates you from all others.” Then his tongue was pulled out and severed at its root.
Hallaj’s tormented body was left to bleed as he merged slowly into death. At the time of evening prayer the executioner cut his head off with a single blow, releasing his soul unto Almighty God. As the blood pumped forth from his trunk it uttered the cry ‘I am the Truth’ (Anal-Haq). Then suddenly every dismembered part of his body began to take up the cry, ‘I am the Truth’. Throughout that night his trunk, limbs and sensory organs kept up the constant repetition of Anal-Haq. It was then that his accusers began to realize that they had slain a true Beloved of God.