Al-Ḥallāj — Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr al-Hallāj (244–309 H / 858–922 C.E.) — was a Persian Sufi mystic, one of the most celebrated and most controversial figures of the early Sufi tradition. He was executed in Baghdad in 309 H / 922 C.E. for his ecstatic utterance anā al-ḥaqq (“I am the Truth”) — a declaration of the mystic’s passing-away (fanāʾ) in the divine reality. The doctrine of the *shathīyāt* — the ecstatic utterances of the Sufis — is exemplified above all by al-Ḥallāj, and the scholastic treatment of the shathīyāt in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī takes his case as its principal example.
Anā al-ḥaqq
The utterance anā al-ḥaqq — “I am the Truth” — is the classic example of the shathīyāt. Al-Ḥallāj, in a state of mystical intoxication, declared himself to be the Truth — that is, God. The utterance was judged by the jurists of Baghdad to be unbelief, and al-Ḥallāj was executed. The Sufi tradition, however, distinguishes the shathīyāt pronounced in a state of fanāʾ — which are not judged as unbelief, because the self that pronounces them has passed away in the divine reality — from the same utterances pronounced by one in his senses, which are judged as unbelief and apostasy.
Raniri’s treatment
The scholastic treatment of the shathīyāt in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri closes with a notable pronouncement on the shathīyāt of al-Ḥallāj. Raniri compares the shathīyāt with latah — the trance-state familiar in the Malay-Indonesian world, in which the entranced person speaks words that are not his own. Although God will not, on the Day of Judgement, punish the shathīyāt — because the words come from Him — yet by the religious law they must be punished, even killed. Whoever, being in his senses, pronounces such shathīyāt, must be killed and will burn in hell eternally.
The pronouncement is the scholastic justification of the persecution of the Wujudiyyah that followed Raniri’s public disputation at the court of Iskandar Thani. By distinguishing the shathīyāt of the entranced mystic — which are to be forgiven — from the same utterances pronounced by one in his senses — which are to be punished with death — Raniri provides the religious authority by which the disciples of Hamzah Pansuri could be put to death and his books burned.
Significance
Al-Ḥallāj is the classic example of the shathīyāt and the principal authority — by his case — of the scholastic treatment of the ecstatic utterances in the Sufi tradition. His case is the principal example invoked in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri, where it serves as the scholastic justification of the persecution of the Wujudiyyah of Acheh. The comparison of the shathīyāt with latah — a Malay-Indonesian trance-state — is a remarkable trace of the localisation of Sufi scholastic discourse in the Malay-Indonesian world.
See Also
- Acheh
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- Iskandar Thani
- Raniri
- Raniri’s public debate against the Wujudiyyah in Acheh
- Shathihiyat
- Wujudiyyah
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3 (“Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq”), pp. 37–43, where Raniri’s treatment of the shathīyāt is summarised.
Al-Ḥallāj — Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr al-Hallāj (244–309 H / 858–922 C.E.) — was a Persian Sufi mystic, one of the most celebrated and most controversial figures of the early Sufi tradition. He was executed in Baghdad in 309 H / 922 C.E. for his ecstatic utterance anā al-ḥaqq (“I am the Truth”) — a declaration of the mystic’s passing-away (fanāʾ) in the divine reality. The doctrine of the *shathīyāt* — the ecstatic utterances of the Sufis — is exemplified above all by al-Ḥallāj, and the scholastic treatment of the shathīyāt in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī takes his case as its principal example.
Anā al-ḥaqq
The utterance anā al-ḥaqq — “I am the Truth” — is the classic example of the shathīyāt. Al-Ḥallāj, in a state of mystical intoxication, declared himself to be the Truth — that is, God. The utterance was judged by the jurists of Baghdad to be unbelief, and al-Ḥallāj was executed. The Sufi tradition, however, distinguishes the shathīyāt pronounced in a state of fanāʾ — which are not judged as unbelief, because the self that pronounces them has passed away in the divine reality — from the same utterances pronounced by one in his senses, which are judged as unbelief and apostasy.
Raniri’s treatment
The scholastic treatment of the shathīyāt in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri closes with a notable pronouncement on the shathīyāt of al-Ḥallāj. Raniri compares the shathīyāt with latah — the trance-state familiar in the Malay-Indonesian world, in which the entranced person speaks words that are not his own. Although God will not, on the Day of Judgement, punish the shathīyāt — because the words come from Him — yet by the religious law they must be punished, even killed. Whoever, being in his senses, pronounces such shathīyāt, must be killed and will burn in hell eternally.
The pronouncement is the scholastic justification of the persecution of the Wujudiyyah that followed Raniri’s public disputation at the court of Iskandar Thani. By distinguishing the shathīyāt of the entranced mystic — which are to be forgiven — from the same utterances pronounced by one in his senses — which are to be punished with death — Raniri provides the religious authority by which the disciples of Hamzah Pansuri could be put to death and his books burned.
Significance
Al-Ḥallāj is the classic example of the shathīyāt and the principal authority — by his case — of the scholastic treatment of the ecstatic utterances in the Sufi tradition. His case is the principal example invoked in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri, where it serves as the scholastic justification of the persecution of the Wujudiyyah of Acheh. The comparison of the shathīyāt with latah — a Malay-Indonesian trance-state — is a remarkable trace of the localisation of Sufi scholastic discourse in the Malay-Indonesian world.
See Also
- Acheh
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- Iskandar Thani
- Raniri
- Raniri’s public debate against the Wujudiyyah in Acheh
- Shathihiyat
- Wujudiyyah
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3 (“Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq”), pp. 37–43, where Raniri’s treatment of the shathīyāt is summarised.