Mansur Al Hallaj Biography

Mansur al-Hallaj ,( full name Abū al-Mughīth Husayn Mansūr al-Hallāj) (c. 858 – March 26, 922) (Hijri c. 244 AH-309 AH) was a Persian mystic, revolutionary writer and pious teacher of Sufism most famous for his apparent, but disputed, self-proclaimed divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy at the orders of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir after a long, drawn-out investigation.

His best known written work is the Kitab al Tawasin, Arabic, which includes two brief chapters devoted to a dialogue of Satan (Iblis) and God, where Satan refuses to bow to Adam, although God asks him to do so. His refusal is due to a misconceived idea of God's uniqueness and because of his refusal to abandon himself to God in love. Hallaj criticizes the staleness of his adoration (Mason, 51-3).