نحمده ونصلى ونسلم على رسوله الكريم
والعاقبة للمتّقين
Mansur al-Hallaj and the Devil
Sufism represents
the mystical aspect of Islam and is a religious movement that focuses on
establishing a living and dynamic relationship between the Lord God Allah and
the worshiper, through purification of the heart and intensity of worship. This
tendency was present in the very early days of Islam and produced thousands upon
thousands of saints and ascetics through whom the religion of Islam spread
largely among the non-Arabs.
Nevertheless,
with the passage of time, popular Sufism became corrupt due to innovations and
heresies. One can pinpoint this deviation from the true spirit of Sufism with
individuals like Mansur al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, and others, who deviated in the
realm of ideas far away from the firm principles of Islam.
With respect to
Mansur al-Hallaj, many of his Sufi contemporaries opposed him because of his
deviations. Tragically, Mansur is considered a martyr and saint by contemporary
so-called ‘Sufis’ and both the Deobandi and Barelwi sects. They defend Mansur’s
apparent heresies and attempt to interpret them with far-fetched
interpretations and conceal their real purport.
“Moses met Iblis
on the slope of Sinai and said to him: ‘O Iblis, what
prevented you from prostrating?’ He said: ‘That which prevented me was my
declaration of a Unique Beloved, and if I had prostrated I would have become
like you, because you were only called upon once to ‘look at the mountain’ and
you looked. As for me, I was called upon a thousand times to prostrate myself
to Adam and I did not prostrate myself because I stood by the intention of my declaration.
Moses said: ‘You abandoned a Command?’ Iblis said: ‘It was a test. Not a
command.’ Moses said: ‘Without sin? But your face was deformed.’ Iblis replied:
‘O Moses, that is but the ambiguity of appearances, while the spiritual state
does not rely on it and does not change. Gnosis remains true even as it was at
the beginning and does not change even if the individual changes.’ Moses said:
‘Do you remember Him now?’ ‘O Moses, pure mind does not have need of memory -
by it I am remembered and He is remembered. His remembrance is my remembrance,
and my remembrance is His remembrance. How, when remembering ourselves, can we
two be other than one? My service is now purer, my time more pleasant, my remembrance
more glorious, because I served Him in the absolute for my good fortune, and
now I serve Him for Himself.’ ‘I lifted greed from everything which prevents or
defends for the sake of loss as well as gain. He isolated me, made me ecstatic,
confused me, expelled me, so that I would no mix with the saints. He put me far
from others because of my jealousy for Him alone. He deformed me, because He
amazed me, and amazed me because He banished me. He banished me because I was a
servant and put me in a forbidden state because of my companionship. He showed
my lack of worth because I praised His Glory. He reduced me to a simple robe of
ihram because if my hijya. He left me because of my union, He unified me because
he cut me off. He cut me off because He had prevented my desire. By His Truth I
was not in error in respect to His decree, I did not refuse destiny. I did not
care at all about the deformation of my face. I kept my equilibrium throughout
these sentences. If He punishes me with His fire for all of eternity I would not
prostrate myself before anyone, and I would not abase myself before any person
or body because I do not recognize any opposite with Him! My feclaration is
that of the sincere and I am one of those sincere in love.” (Tawasin)
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