transmitted words of unbelief without themselves believing them; but if he openly professes that he does believe it, he is to be ordered to repent. Should he repent, no penalty is due; if he refuses, he is to be put to death.

Accordingly, the vizier acted on Abu ʿUmar’s legal opinion, for the man’s affair had become notorious and his outright heresy and unbelief were plain. Permission was therefore sought from the caliph al-Muqtadir to execute him. Al-Hallaj, however, had already beguiled Nasr al-Qushuri by a show of piety and righteousness—not by the doctrine he was really preaching. Nasr then alarmed the caliph’s mother, saying, “I fear that your son may incur the punishment for killing this righteous man.”

She tried to prevent al-Muqtadir from ordering the execution, but he would not relent and instructed Ḥāmid to kill him. That very day the caliph was struck by a fever, which only increased the bewilderment of Nasr and the caliph’s mother and made al-Muqtadir himself hesitate. He therefore sent word to Ḥāmid to halt the execution, and Ḥāmid delayed it for a few days until the caliph recovered.

Ḥāmid then pressed him, saying, “Commander of the Faithful! If this man is spared, he will overturn the very core of the Sharīʿah; already many people have apostatised through him, and that will lead to the collapse of your rule. Let me kill him, and if any harm befalls you, take my life in return.” Al-Muqtadir permitted it, and Ḥāmid executed al-Hallaj that same day.

When the execution was carried out, al-Hallaj’s followers said, “He was not killed at all; it was only a pack-mule belonging to such-and-such a clerk that died(1) that day. He will return to us after a while.” Thus this foolish notion became the creed of a sect.

Most of al-Hallaj’s impostures were tricks he displayed as though they were miracles, by which he ensnared the simple-minded.

Abu ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī said: Abū’l-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Tanūkhī told me—and several others confirmed it—that those who espouse al-Hallaj’s doctrine believe that the divinity which had been present in him is now indwelling one of his sons in Tustar, and that a man there, a Hāshimī known as Abū ʿAmārah Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, has received the spirit of Muḥammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and is addressed among them as “our master.”

Al-Tanūkhī al-Azraq said: Someone who had been invited by the Hallājīs to a gathering with this Abū ʿAmārah told me that the latter spoke there, expounding al-Hallaj’s doctrine and calling people to it. He said: I entered, and they thought I was seeking guidance; he spoke in my presence, and the man was cross-eyed, so he would—