Answer: Praise be to Allah. al-Hallaj was executed for zandaqa (heresy), which is precisely the hypocrisy proven against him both by his own admissions and by other evidence—and not requiring the particular offense that, by unanimous agreement among Muslims, mandates the death penalty. Whoever claims he was killed unjustly is himself a hypocrite and an atheist, or else an ignorant stray. Reports of various acts of disbelief circulated about him that, individually, would have warranted execution, let alone taken collectively. He was never counted among the pious saints of Allah. Rather, his devotions, ascetic exercises, and spiritual struggles were at times satanic, at times self-serving, and at times in conformity with the Sharīʿa—thus mixing truth with falsehood. He traveled to India, learned various forms of magic, and authored a well-known treatise on sorcery that still exists today. He exhibited so-called “miracles” that were in fact satanic deceptions. Scholars collected his story in numerous works written by contemporaries or those who transmitted from them. For example, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Khaṭīb recorded him in his Tārīkh Baghdād; Abū Yūsuf al-Qazwīnī devoted a volume to his biography; Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī compiled a work entitled Rafʿ al-Lijāʾ fī Akhbār al-Ḥallāj; his grandson al-Ṣibt al-Marṣūl mentioned him in his own history; and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī notes in Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfiyya that most shaykhs condemned him, refused to count him among the masters of the ṭarīqa, including Abū al-Qāsim al-Junayd. He was not executed during Junayd’s lifetime (Junayd died in 298 AH); al-Hallaj was killed after Junayd’s death—most likely in 309 AH. He was brought to Baghdad riding a camel and proclaimed “the preacher of the Qarmatians.” He was imprisoned until his statements revealing clear disbelief and heresy were documented—among them the claim in one of his books that if a person misses the Hajj, he may build a replica of the Kaʿba in his home, circumambulate it, and give alms on behalf of thirty orphans as specified, which would suffice for the pilgrimage. When questioned, he admitted saying this and claimed he had heard it from al-Ḥasan al-Basrī’s Kitāb al-Ṣalāh. The qāḍī Abū ʿUmar accused him of lying, and the minister assembled scholars to testify to what they had heard. They unanimously ruled that he must be executed. Scholars have two opinions regarding a zindiq (heretic) who professes repentance: should his repentance be accepted, sparing him the death penalty, or must he be executed because his sincerity cannot be ascertained? A minority held that he should be offered repentance and spared; the majority maintained that he must be killed even if he repents. If his repentance is genuine, it will benefit him in the Hereafter, though he is executed in this world; the punishment purifies him—just as with the thief, the adulterer, or the drinker once they are presented before the ruler, the prescribed penalty must be carried out, and their repentance benefits them in the next life and is accepted by Allah, while their execution atones for them. If repentance is feigned, execution serves as a fitting punishment. Thus, if al-Hallaj was sincere at the time of his execution, Allah will benefit him through that repentance; if he was insincere, he was killed as a disbeliever. No genuine miracles appeared at his death. All the tall tales that his blood spelled out the name of Allah on the ground, or that the waters of the Tigris receded, and similar fabrications, are lies uttered only by the ignorant or by hypocrites. They were concocted by heretical enemies of Islam to lead people to say: “The law of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh kills saints of Allah.” Yet many prophets, companions, and successors were slain by the swords of unbelievers and the wicked, and none of them left a miraculous inscription in their blood. Is al-Hallaj therefore superior to all of them? He trembled at his execution and displayed repentance, but it was not accepted. Had he lived, many ignorant people would have been led astray by his absurd and satanic claims and visions. Only those who venerate such self-constructed wonders would revere him; the truly God-fearing awliyāʾ (friends of Allah), aware of his real condition, hold him in no esteem. Thus al-Qushayrī makes no mention of him among the shaykhs in his Risāla, even though he quotes some of al-Hallaj’s utterances that he found praiseworthy. It is reported that Shaykh Abū Yaʿqūb al-Nahrajūrī had married him to his daughter, but upon discovering al-Hallaj’s heresy, he annulled the marriage. ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān al-Makkī declared him a disbeliever, saying, “I was with him when I heard a reciter read the Qurʾān, and he remarked, ‘I can compose verses like these.’”