—and those were his last words.

Then his head was severed, he was wrapped in a reed mat, naphtha was poured over him, and he was burned. His ashes were carried to the top of the minaret for the winds to scatter.

Three days later I heard Aḥmad ibn Fātik—my father’s disciple—say: “I saw in a dream that I was standing before the Lord of Might. I said, ‘My Lord, what has become of al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr?’ He replied, ‘I disclosed to him a meaning, but he summoned the people to himself, so I visited upon him what you witnessed.’”

Ibn Bākūyah said: I heard Ibn Khafīf being asked, “What is your view of al-Ḥallāj?” He answered, “I hold that he was simply a Muslim man.” It was said to him, “The shaykhs and the majority of Muslims have declared him an unbeliever.” He replied, “If what I saw from him in prison was not pure monotheism, then there is no monotheism in the world.”

I say: Ibn Khafīf was mistaken. At the time of his execution al-Ḥallāj never ceased proclaiming God’s oneness and crying out, “By God, by God, spare my blood; I am upon Islam!” He renounced everything other than Islam. Yet a heretic may profess God’s oneness openly while concealing his heresy within, just as the hypocrites professed monotheism, fasted, and prayed in public while hypocrisy lodged in their hearts. Al-Ḥallāj was not so foolish as to flaunt his heresy before Ibn Khafīf and the like; rather, he would reveal it only to those whose allegiance he trusted. It is quite possible that for a time he fell into heresy, apostatized, claimed divinity, and practiced sorcery and fraudulent tricks; then, when tribulation descended and he faced a bloody death, he embraced Islam and returned to the truth. Allah knows best what lay hidden in his breast. Nevertheless, we disavow his doctrine before Allah, for it is sheer unbelief—may Allah pardon us and grant us safety—for he held that the Creator indwelt certain noble persons. Exalted is Allah far above what he claimed.

Al-Ḥallāj was executed in 309 AH, six days before the end of Dhū ’l-Qaʿdah.

I read, in the handwriting of the scholar Tāj al-Dīn al-Fazārī: “In the year 667 AH I saw a book that contained the story of al-Ḥallāj. Among its contents was a report from Ibrāhīm al-Ḥulwānī, who said: ‘I entered…’”