Hallaj

Mansur al-Hallaj is one of the more controversial figures of Sufism. Considered by many to be a great poet-saint, he was executed for blasphemy and sorcery.Orthodox religious authorities took offense at his poetry and teachings, particularly the line in one of his great poems "Ana 'l-Haqq," which translates as "I am the Real," but can also be translated as "I am the Truth" or "I am God." He was condemned by a council of theologians, imprisoned for nine years, and eventually put to death.

Poems by Hallaj

Your spirit is mingled with mine

Your spirit is mingled with mine as wine

is mixed with water;

whatever touches you touches me.

In all the stations of the soul you are I.

You glide between the heart and its casing

You glide between the heart and its casing as tears glide from the eyelid.

You dwell in my inwardness, in the depths of my heart, as souls dwell in bodies.

Nothing passes from rest to motion unless you move it in hidden ways,

O new moon.

Kill me, my faithful friends

Kill me, my faithful friends,

For in my being killed is my life.

Love is that you remain standing

In front of your Beloved

When you are stripped of all your attributes;

Then His attributes become your qualities.

Between me and You, there is only me.

Take away the me, so only You remain.

If They Only Knew

What earth is this

so in want of you they rise up on high 

to seek you in heaven?

Look at them staring

at you

right before their eyes,

unseeing, unseeing, blind.. . .

I was patient,

but can the heart be patient of

its heart?

My spirit and yours

blend together

whether we are near one another

or far away.

I am you,

you,

my being,

end of my desire.

The most intimate of secret thoughts

envelopedand fixed along the horizon

in folds of light.

How? The "how" is known

along the outside,

while the interior of beyond

to and for the heart of being.

Creatures perish

in the darkenedblind of quest,

knowing intimations.

Guessing and dreaming

they pursue the real,

faces turned toward the sky

whispering secrets to the heavens.

While the lord remains among them

in every turn of time abiding in their every condition 

every instant.

Never without him, they,

not for the blink of an eye --

if only they knew!

nor he for a moment without them.

I am the One whom I love

I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself.

We are two souls incarnated in one body;

if you see me, you see Him,

if you see Him, you see us.