He recited:

“If I should spend the night in two worn-out robes,
 they are but tatters upon a free and noble soul.
So let it not grieve you when you behold a condition
 now changed from the state of old;
For I possess a spirit that will either depart
 or—by your life—will soar within me to some momentous end.” (1)

In 301 AH al-Hallaj was brought into Baghdad, paraded before the people on the back of a camel. He had been arrested in Sūs, sent to al-Rāʾishī, and from there dispatched to Baghdad, where he was crucified alive. A town-crier proclaimed over him, “This man is one of the propagandists of the Qaramita—take note of him!”

The jurist Abū ʿAlī ibn al-Bannāʾ said: “Al-Hallaj claimed that he was God and that the divine nature indwelt human nature. The vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā summoned him, and on questioning found that he could not recite the Quran properly, nor did he know jurisprudence or hadith. He told him, ‘Learning the obligatory rulings and the laws of purification would benefit you more than composing epistles whose contents you do not understand. How often—woe to you!—do you write to people, “Blessed is He of the dazzling light”? You are in dire need of discipline.’ He then ordered that he be crucified first on the eastern side of the city and then on the western side.

Among his writings was found the statement: ‘I am the one who drowned the people of Noah and destroyed ʿĀd and Thamūd.’ He would say to one of his companions, ‘You are Noah,’ to another, ‘You are Moses,’ and to a third, ‘You are Muhammad.’

He also said:

‘Whoever plants his foot firmly in the arena of intimate converse, is unveiled by direct encounter, is caressed by nearness, delights in proximity, is adorned with familiarity, is sprinkled by the vision of the malakut (angelic realm), is draped in the beauties of the jabarut (domain of power), rises after being safeguarded, attains certainty after being rent asunder, is shattered after lapsing into heresy, gains mastery after coming to know, speaks without keeping watch, shows fondness after humility, enters without asking leave, is brought near when laid waste, and is addressed when ennobled—such a one they neither killed nor crucified.’