with Abū Sahl ibn Nūbakht, hoping to entice him. Yet Abū Sahl was a shrewd man. He said to the envoy, “The marvels he displays can all be achieved through trickery. As for me, I am a lecherous fellow, and nothing pleases me more than women. I am also afflicted with baldness. If he can give me hair and turn my beard black again, I will believe whatever he summons me to and will declare, ‘He is the Gate to the Imām’; or, if he wishes, I will say, ‘He is the Imām’; or, if he prefers, ‘He is a prophet’; or even, should he desire, ‘He is God.’”
Al-Hallāj therefore despaired of winning him over and gave up.
Al-Azraq went on: “He would invite every group to whichever of these claims best suited their gullibility, deceiving one faction after another.
“A number of his companions told me that when the people of Ahwāz and its districts became enamored of him because of the foods and drinks he produced out of season—and because of the silver coins he called ‘the dirhams of omnipotence’—the theologian Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbāʾī was informed of it. He said, ‘Such things can be managed by sleight of hand inside houses. But shut him up in one of your rooms and demand that he bring out of it two bundles of thorns.’
“When this remark reached al-Hallāj, and he learned that some men meant to put it into effect, he left town.
“In the Nashwār of al-Tanūkhī (1) it is related: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī told us: A skilled astrologer said to me, ‘News of al-Hallāj reached me, so I went to him as though seeking guidance. We exchanged words, and then he said, “Wish for anything you like right now and I will bring it to you.”
“‘We were in one of the mountain towns where there are no rivers, so I said, “I want a fresh, live fish.” He rose, entered the house, shut the door, and stayed inside for a while. Then he came out with mud up to his knees, holding a fish that was still flapping, and said, “I prayed to God, and He commanded me to go to the marshes, so I brought this.”
“‘I knew at once it was a ruse, so I said to him, “Let me enter the house, and if I do not uncover a trick, I will believe in you.”
“‘“Do as you please,” he replied.
“‘I went into the house and locked the door behind me, but I could find neither passage nor contrivance…’”