HUSAIN IBN MANSUR AL-HALLAJ - ADVAITA IN ISLAM

“I am the absolute Truth” , Ana’l-haqq was the expression of his direct experience. Al-Hallaj was born around 858 in Fars province of Persia to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic). His grandfather was a Zoroastrian.[3] His father lived a simple life, and this form of lifestyle greatly interested the young Al-Hallaj. As a youngster he memorized the Qur'an and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study. He later married and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he stayed for one year, facing the mosque, in fasting and total silence. After his stay at the city, he traveled extensively and wrote and taught along the way. He traveled as far as India and Central Asia gaining many followers, many of whom accompanied him on his second and third trips to Mecca. After this period of travel, he settled down in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad. 


During one of these trances, he would utter أنا الحق Anā l-Ḥaqq "I am The Truth, " which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, since


al-Ḥaqq "the Truth" is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah. In another controversial statement, al-Hallaj claimed "There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, " and similarly he would point to his cloak and say, ما في جبتي إلا الله Mā fī jubbatī illā l-Lāh "There is nothing in my cloak but God." This type of mystical utterance is known as shath.


Statements like these led to a long trial, and his subsequent imprisonment for 11 years in a Baghdad prison. He was brutally publicly executed on March 26, 922.

Those authorities that killed this great saint and mystic did not understand the utmost humility out of which this statement, 'I am the Truth', or 'There is nothing but Allah under this turban'. It was not self-aggrandizement but a complete freedom from ego. A parallel to the crucification of Christ: the same anger and hatred of the religiously powerful priests against a messenger of Truth because they felt threatened and challenged. What a shame!

SAYINGS:

Ana'l -Haqq - I am the Truth. 
(this is the saying which apparently earned al-Hallaj his martyrdom - al Haqq also means God)

You know and are not known; You see and are not seen.
(Akhbar al-Hallaj 44, 1.4)

Your Spirit mixed with my Spirit little by little, by turns, through reunions and abandons.
And now I am Yourself, Your existence is my own, and it is also my will.
(Diwan al-Hallaj)

I find it strange that the divine whole can be borne by my little human part,
Yet due to my little part's burden, the earth cannot sustain me.
(Akhbar al-Hallaj, 11)

I have seen my Lord with the eye of my heart, and I said: "Who are You?" He said:"You."
(Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 10)

I do not cease swimming in the seas of love, rising with the wave, then descending; now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it; love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
(Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 34)

Someone asked Hallaj: “What is love?”

He answered: “You will see it today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

On that day they hacked off his hands and feet. The next day they hanged him and on the third day they strew his ashes into the wind.

Someone asked Hallaj: “Please  point out the Confession of Unity to me.”

He answered: “The confession of Unity is beyond words so that you could pronounce it.” …

Then he added with reddened face: “Should I summarize it for you?”

“Yes, please.”

He said: “He who explains God to be One has added already something upon Him.”

“No one can reveal God as One except God Himself and no one knows the true Confession of Unity but the messenger of God. When a man talks about the Oneness of God he actually confirms only himself and practices idolatry. When He reveals Himself through my tongue then He is Himself and it is only His revelation.”

In my heart all thoughts

revolve around You,

my tongue speaks but about my love

to You.

If I turn towards east

You radiate from east towards me.

If I turn towards west

You rise there before my eyes.

If I look above

You are still higher,

If I look down

You are the everyplace here.

You are giving place to all

but You are not its place.

You are the whole,

but not transient as we are.

You are my heart, my conscience,

You are my thought, my mind,

the rhythm of my breath.

You are the knot of my heart.