rumi ghazal 132: love versus intellect مولانا:درمیانِ پردۂ خون

Rumi 02: The People who Influenced Him...01: The Life and Death of Hussain bin Mansur (Mansur Hallaj)...01

HIS EARLY YEARS: Hussain bin Mansur حسین بن منصور called Mansur Hallaj منصور حلاج in the non-Arab world) was born in 244 AH (858 CE) in village al-Tur الطور in district Bayda بیضا, north of Shiraz شیراز (in the Fars فارس province of present day Iran ایران). From his father he inherited the occupation of a cotton-wool carder [called Hallaj in Arabic حلاج]. His disciples also called him Hallaj-ul Asraar حلاج الاسرار (the carder of secrets/consciences). His father Mansur منصور had embraced Islam and his grandfather Mahamma is believed to be a Zoroastrian. His mother is believed to be an Arab. His first language was Arabic. His family moved to Wasit واسط ( Iraq عراق) when he was in his pre-teen years. He completed his religious education in Wasit. He was raised as a Hanbalite حنبلی Muslim. He memorized the Quran by heart. In 260, at the age of 16, he left Wasit for Tustar تستر (Ahwaz اہواز), to study under Sahl bin Abdullah Tustari سہل بن عبداللہ تستری, a well known Sufi master. He was in his service for 2 years as a khadim خادم, after which he left him due to some differences. In 262, he arrived in Basra بصرہ, which was one of the intellectual capitals of Islam and the foremost center of Sufism at that time. There he became a disciple of Amr Makki عمرو مکی, another Sufi master, who initiated him to Sufism. He got married to Abu Yaqub Iqtas ابو یعقوب اقطع daughter in 263, which started a confrontation between Amr Makki and Abu Yaqub, both followers of Junaid Baghdadi جنید بغدادی. Hallaj went to Baghdad بغداد to consult Junaid about this issue, who advised him to be patient. Amr Makki started disliking him to the extent that later on he would send letters against Hallaj (accusing him of heresy) to the cities where he went to preach. Later Abu Yaqub also turned against his son in law. Hallajs wife and her brother supported him to the end. In 270 Hallaj went for his first Hajj and he stayed in Mecca for one year. He spent the whole year in meditation and fasting. In the following years he became attached to his first disciples. He performed his second Hajj with hundreds of disciples in 280. He traveled extensively in the years 272-273 and 279-281 to Ahwaz اہواز, Khurasan خراسان, and Transoxania ماورا النہر (North of present day Afghanistan افغانستان). In 283 he went to India. He landed either at Deybal (near present day Karachi کراچی) or on the Gujrat coast, and went to Mansura منصورہ , Multan ملتان , and Kashmir کشمیر. From Kashmir he travelled West and then North-Northeast to Eastern Turkistan ترکستان (in present day China). He kept on receiving letters from these areas till his end. His influence in all these areas has lasted to this date. Hallaj had a break with Junaid around the year 282. He once asked Junaid certain question, which he refused to answer.

HIS LATER YEARS: Following his third Hajj in 288, Hallaj returned to Baghdad and settled there. His friends built him a house. He started extensive preaching. His son (Hamd) later said that people did not understand half of what he said. He had a very unconventional approach. He would speak in mosques, suqs اسواق , and even in streets. He was a poet and talked of God in very unconventional ways, like a lover. Once he was heard saying, O men, save me from God, who has robbed me of myself. It was also alleged that he had said an-al haq انا الحق (i.e., I am the Truth). Once a man asked him why he had spoken like the way he did. He responded that he wanted someone to kill this cursed one (pointing toward himself).

Perhaps the most famous verse from his Divan is:

اقتلونی یا ثقاتی
انّ فی قتلی حیاتی
(kill me, my trusted friends;
indeed in my killing is my life)

This account is based on: Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr (by Herbert Mason), which is the abridged English translation of: The Passion of Al-Hallaj (by Louis Massignon).

خاموش تماشائی
KhamoshTamashai

Background Music: Turkish (Omar Faruk Tekbilek)

Category:

Education

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• mevlana
• jajaluddin
• rumi
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• shams
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• mansur
• hallaj
• alhallaj
• husayn
• hussain
• bin
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• درمیانِ
• پردۂ
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• گلزارہا

[jazl10]

love your work.. appreciate it. Nice narration and thanks for the on screen translation. But can you please help in one thing? In the closing lines for the description of this video you added a verse from His diwan but i didnt get one word there. It would be o great help if u could clarify it.

aqtalooni ya _____

inni fi qatali hayati.

what is the word there in the blank, it is supposed to be friend but what is the arabic word used in the verse?

thanks, Regards.

[KhamoshTamashai]

@jazl10

One more thing please, the description is about Hussain bin Mansur Hallaj, and so the she'r (verse), which is in Arabic, is from the divan of Mansur Hallaj.

[jazl10]

@KhamoshTamashai yup i knew the description was about Hallaj as you had very well written in the description box. But aren't those words by Maulana? or was those uttered by Hallaj?

[KhamoshTamashai]

@jazl10

The verse in question is by Mansur Hallaj. Although Maulana Rumi has written Arabic, Turkish, and Greek words in his ghazals, some lines are in Turkish (then it was written in Arabic script), and some ghazals are completely Arabic, his first language was Persian, whereas Mansur Hallaj's first language was Arabic.

[jazl10]

@KhamoshTamashai ohh, didnt know all that. The video begins with Divan-e-Shams, so i am bit confused. Is Divan-e-shams by Hallaj? Sorry for many questions:/

[KhamoshTamashai]

@jazl10

You are confusing Divane Shams (in Farsi) with the Divan of Mansur Hallaj (in Arabic). Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi named his divan after a dervish named Shamsuddin of Tabriz, whom he (Maulana) considered his murshid or guide. He (Shamsuddin) changed Maulana's life and then disappeared. Maulana was so much in distress. He even ends most of his ghazals with the name Shams or Tabriz in the last 2 lines. Hallaj preceded Maulana by about 350 years.

[jazl10]

@KhamoshTamashai ohk.. thankyou for sharing all that knowledge. Shukran:)

[jazl10]

@KhamoshTamashai thanks for the insightful reply.

[KhamoshTamashai]

@jazl10

The word is ثِقاتی thiqati, from ثقات which is plural of ثِقہ thiqa, which means a trustworthy person. So it means my trustworthy people. Although used also in Farsi, it is not used in Urdu presently. However a few derivatives are in use, e.g. توثیق tauseeq, which means confirmation, e.g., by a legislative assembly. Also, وثیقہ نویس waseeqa navees is the one who writes (types nowadays) power of attorney, etc at the courts, waseeqa daar is the person for whom it is written.