2022/04/30

Sufism and Suzuki Shozan's Japanese Zen Teachings

(4) (PDF) Sufism and Suzuki Shozan's Japanese Zen Teachings

Sufism and Suzuki Shozan's Japanese Zen Teachings
Yasushi Suzuki

April 2016


Abstract:

This paper aims to compare the ways toward true enlightenment taught by Islam’s Sufi tradition and the Japanese Zen teacher, Suzuki Shōsan. 
Despite differences in fundamental motivation and ultimate goal, the paper will identify a degree of compatibility between both traditions, particularly in terms of their emphasis on: 
(1) becoming moral and conveying ethical ideals, 
(2) devoting oneself to oneʼs daily work in the proper spirit, and 
(3) making services for society in order to overcome the obstacles which human beings frequently encounter. 

Although the peaceful and non-violent Sufi intellectual tradition has been denigrated by recent militant jihad movements and radical Islamism, this paper aims to shed an analytical light on the universal values and ethics Sufism shares with an Eastern religious teaching in order to contribute towards the promotion of an atmosphere of moderation in society. Keywords: Buddhism, Jihad, Nio-Zen, Sufism, Suzuki Shōsan, Zen Philosophy.
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the similarities between Sufi Islam and Zen Buddhism?


What are the similarities between Sufi Islam and Zen Buddhism?


Amori Patel, Studying Levantine Arabic
Answered Apr 26, 2019

While there are many irreconcilable and unbridgeable doctrinal and theological differences between Islam — of which Sufism, Tassawuf, is the inner kernel, see section below on marifa — a culmination of Abrahamic revelation representing monotheistic faith and Buddhism which is Dharma based, there is much common ground, incidentally the title of the book “Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism”, with a forward by his Holiness the current Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama states, “My Muslim friends have explained to me that since God is characterised as compassionate and merciful, faithful Muslims are actually offering complete submission to the ideal of universal compassion. By this means God’s compassion can flow through the actions of the faithful. Such a practice is clearly a way of purifying the mind and seems to parallel what the Buddha himself said about the importance of actually living your life in a compassionate, ethical way. Thus, from a Buddhist point of view, the practice of Islam is evidently a spiritual path of salvation.”*

Most of Buddha’s teachings are on the plane of ma’rifa (spiritual wisdom) in Islam, and not on that of ‘aqida (doctrine), it is difficult to compare Islam and the various schools of Buddhism. If one goes beyond the letter, there is some affinity if one operates in the plane of the spirit. While one cannot call Islam and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace) an offshoot of any school of Buddhism, there are most certainly resonances and affinities, for the spiritually inclined, if you will.

*Source: Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism, 2010, Fons Vitae (PDF)

Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism, 2010, Fons Vitae (PDF
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The Relation between Buddhism and Sufism — Study Buddhism

The Relation between Buddhism and Sufism — Study Buddhism

The Relation between Buddhism and Sufism
Dr. Alexander Berzin

Global civilization and universal responsibility both depend on meaningful dialogue among world religions, such as Buddhism and Islam. Such dialogue can occur on the level of religious leaders, as well as on the level of the general public. Moreover, it can occur on the level of generalizations, as well as the level of well-documented specific detail.

The leaders and followers of Buddhism and Islam, however, have been largely unaware, in the past, of each others’ beliefs. This situation is slowly changing at present, but requires greater effort. In this context, the Internet is becoming an increasingly valuable medium for spreading information and dialoguing, particularly among the public, and even more particularly among young people. Users of the Internet, however, are faced with the formidable task of sifting through the mass of often conflicting information available, in order to locate reliable, unbiased sources. In meeting this challenge, outlines of similarities between Sufism and Buddhism go in the right direction concerning generalities, but need to be supplemented with detailed analyses of specific cases, in order to avoid misunderstanding.

For example, Buddhist and Islamic civilizations in Central Asia have been in contact with each other for over a millennium, and during that period, Sufism has developed and spread within the Islamic world. The fact that both Sufism and Buddhism deal with similar issues concerning the limitations of ordinary human existence, however, does not lead to the conclusion that either of the two necessarily influenced the other in formulating its resolution of this issue. This does not discount, however, the possibility that certain ideas may have been borrowed from one religion to another. But, assertions of such borrowing need to be delineated with precision and specificity in order to be credible. After all, both Sufism and Buddhism have long histories, wide geographic ranges, and great diversities of schools and masters, each with its own individual assertions.

For example, Abu Yazid Bistami (804-874 CE) introduced into Sufism the concepts of fana and khud’a from the influence of his teacher, Abu ‘Ali al-Sindi. Fana means cessation of existence – the total destruction of the individual ego in becoming one with Allah; khud’a means deceit or trick, as the description of the material world. In Hindu and Muslim Mysticism, R. C. Zaehner has argued convincingly that al-Sindi, known to have been a convert from another religion, most probably derived the former concept from the Chandogya Upanishad and the latter from the Svetashvetara Upanishad, as interpreted by the Advaita Vedanta founder, Shankara (788-820 CE). All forms of Buddhism deal with the similar topic of nirvana – release from recurring rebirth – and many Mahayana schools assert that the world of appearances is similar, although not equivalent, to maya, illusion. Nevertheless, it is hardly likely that any of their formulations played a role in the development of Sufi thought.

On the other hand, we can find examples of literary borrowings from Buddhism into Sufism. For instance, the Buddhist image of a group of blind men each describing an elephant differently, based on each touching a separate part of the animal, found its way into Sufism in the writings of the Persian scholar Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE). Advocating philosophical skepticism, al-Ghazali used the image to illustrate how Islamic theologians possess only partial truth, while Buddha used it in The Sutta of the Non-Buddhist Sects (Pali: Tittha Sutta) to demonstrate the futility of the non-Buddhist philosophers debating their views with each other.

Other Buddhist influences on Sufism occurred in the sphere of ritual practice, particularly during the Mongol Ilkhanate rule of Iran (1256-1336 CE). Five of the first six Ilkhan rulers were followers of Tibetan Buddhism, the exception being Ahmad Teguder (r. 1282-1284 CE). The sixth Ilkhan, Ghazan (r. 1295-1304 CE), converted to Islam with the Shi’a Sufi master Sadr ad-din Ibrahim. The increasing emphasis, from this time onwards, on the veneration of the tombs of Sufi saints was perhaps influenced by the Buddhist veneration of stupa relic monuments.

Buddhist borrowings into Islam, however, were not limited to Sufism. In this regard, Manichaeism, another major Central Asian religion, often served as the bridge. One possible example is the account of previous lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva, known in medieval Christian sources as Barlaam and Josaphat. It is well-known that Manichaean Sogdian versions of these accounts were written prior to their first appearance in an Arabic version as The Book of Bilawhar and Yudasaf, compiled by Aban al-Lahiki (750-815 CE) in Baghdad. This Islamic rendition incorporated parts of the Arabic account of Buddha’s previous lives, The Book of the Buddha (Ar. Kitab al-Budd), also prepared at that time, based on translations into Arabic of two Sanskrit texts, A Rosary of Previous Life Accounts (Skt. Jatakamala) and Ashvaghosha’s Deeds of the Buddha (Skt. Buddhacarita). Since al-Lahiki’s text is no longer extant, it is unclear how much material he also incorporated in it from Manichaean sources. If some were, it would most likely have been through the influence of dialogue between Buddhist and Manichaean Muslim scholars present, at that time, in the Abbasid court.

[See: The Prophets of the Non-Indic Invaders in Kalachakra]

Moreover, Buddhist borrowings into Islamic civilization were not limited to the religious or literary spheres. They also occurred in the field of medicine. The Barmakid family played an important role in this development. The chief minister during the rule of the fourth Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809 CE), was Yahya ibn Barmak, a Muslim grandson of one of the Buddhist administrative heads of Nava Vihara Monastery in Balkh, Afghanistan. Although, Buddhist scholars were already present at the House of Knowledge in Baghdad at that time, Yahya invited yet more Buddhist scholars, especially from Kashmir. No Buddhist philosophical texts, however, were translated into Arabic under Yahya’s patronage. Rather, the focus was on translating, from Sanskrit into Arabic, Buddhist medical texts, specifically Ravigupta’s Ocean of Attainments (Skt. Siddhasara).

A far more delicate issue than religious, literary, and scientific borrowing, however, is the issue of a shared ethic as the basis for both global civilization and universal responsibility. For example, Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed at the United Nations in 1948, as not taking into account the values of non-Western religions and cultures. Their objections led to the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, adopted by the ministers of 48 Islamic countries in 1990 at the Organization of the Islamic Conference. This document recognizes only those human rights that accord with Islamic revealed law, Shari’ah.

As a way to observe the spirit of Shari’ah, Sufism emphasizes tariqah, the esoteric path of mystic practices leading to haq, the truth. But great caution is needed not to infer from this that because Sufism avoids the extreme of fundamentalism, it could serve as a bridge between Islam and Buddhism in the sphere of ethics. Various Sufi schools may be present in many of the Islamic countries today, but the fact that all the Islamic countries signed the Cairo Declaration indicates that any ethical basis for either global civilization or universal responsibility needs to take Shari’ah into account. Therefore, as a basis for further dialogue in formulating such an ethic, it is essential to undertake further detailed analysis and identification of points of ethics shared in common by the world’s various religious, as well as secular systems.

It may indeed be the case that Sufism can facilitate Buddhist and Muslim interest in learning more about each other. In finding common points between the two religions, it is not helpful, however, to emphasize mysticism. “Mysticism” is a technical term used primarily in theistic systems for methods to achieve some type of ecstatic union with God. Such terms are not relevant to Buddhism. More relevant would be the importance of the spiritual master and of meditation methods, such as those for the development of love, breathing exercises, repetition of mantras or dhikrs, and visualization. Such topics, however, will probably be of interest and relevance to only a limited audience of Buddhists and Muslims, and not to the general public among traditional followers of the two religions.

Therefore, in addition to well-documented online and printed information and comparative studies concerning Buddhism and Islam, wide media coverage of interfaith services held by leaders of not only the two religions, but of as many religions as possible, might have an even greater positive impact for establishing religious harmony, global civilization, and universal responsibility.

Islam Religious Harmony
Re-edited from “Response to Majid Tehranian,” originally published with extensive footnotes in “Islam and Inter-faith Relations: The Gerald Weisfeld Lectures 2006," eds. Lloyd Ridgeon and Perry Schmidt-Leukel. London: SCM Press, 2007, 256-61.
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Al-Hallaj - Wikipedia

Al-Hallaj - Wikipedia

Al-Hallaj

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Al-Husayn bin Mansur al-Hallāj
منصور حلاج
Hallaj.jpg
The execution of Mansur Al-Hallaj (manuscript illustration from Mughal Empire, c. 1600)[1]
Personal
Bornc. 858 CE
Fars, Abbasid Caliphate
(present-day Iran)
Died26 March 922 (aged 63–64) CE[4]
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
(present-day Iraq)
ReligionIslam
EraAbbasid
CreedSunni[2][3]
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced
hidePart of a series on Islam
Sufism
Tomb of Abdul Qadir Jilani, Baghdad.jpg
Tomb of Abdul Qadir Gilani, Baghdad, Iraq
Ideas
Practices
Sufi orders
List of sufis
Topics in Sufism
Allah-green.svg Islam portal

Al-Hallaj (Arabic: ابو المغيث الحسين بن منصور الحلاج, romanized: Abū 'l-Muġīth Al-Ḥusayn bin Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj) or Mansour Hallaj (Persian: منصور حلاج, romanized: Mansūr-e Hallāj) (c. 858 – 26 March 922) (Hijri c. 244 AH – 309 AH) was a Persian mystic, poet and teacher of Sufism.[5][6][7] He is best known for his saying: "I am the Truth" (Ana'l-Ḥaqq), which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego, allowing God to speak through him. Al-Hallaj gained a wide following as a preacher before he became implicated in power struggles of the Abbasid court and was executed after a long period of confinement on religious and political charges. Although most of his Sufi contemporaries disapproved of his actions, Hallaj later became a major figure in the Sufi tradition.[8]

Life[edit]

Early years[edit]

Al-Hallaj was born around 858 in Fars province of Persia to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic) in an Arabized town called al-Bayḍā'.[9] His grandfather was a Zoroastrian.[7] His father moved to a town in Wasit famous for its school of Quran reciters.[9] Al-Hallaj memorized the Qur'an before he was 12 years old and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study at the school of Sahl al-Tustari.[9] During this period Al-Hallaj lost his ability to speak Persian and later wrote exclusively in Arabic.[7][9] Al Hallaj was a Sunni Muslim.[2][3]

When he was twenty, al-Hallaj moved to Basra, where he married and received his Sufi habit from 'Amr Makkī, although his lifelong and monogamous marriage later provoked jealousy and opposition from the latter.[9][10] Through his brother-in-law, al-Hallaj found himself in contact with a clan which supported the Zaydi Zanj rebellion, which had elements of Shi'i school of thought.[9]

He later went to Baghdad to consult the famous Sufi teacher Junayd Baghdadi, but he was tired of the conflict that existed between his father-in-law and 'Amr Makkī and he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, against the advice of Junayd Baghdadi, as soon as the Zanj rebellion was crushed.[9]

Pilgrimages and travels[edit]

In Mecca he made a vow to remain for one year in the courtyard of the sanctuary in fasting and total silence.[9] When he returned from Mecca, he laid down the Sufi tunic and adopted a "lay habit" in order to be able to preach more freely.[9] At that time a number of Sunnis, including former Christians who would later become viziers at the Abbasid court, became his disciples, but other Sufis were scandalized, while some Muʿtazilis and Shias who held high posts in the government accused him of deception and incited the mob against him.[9] Al-Hallaj left for eastern Iran and remained there for five years, preaching in the Arab colonies and fortified monasteries that housed volunteer fighters in the jihad, after which he was able to return and install his family in Baghdad.[9]

Al-Hallaj made his second pilgrimage to Mecca with four hundred disciples, where some Sufis, his former friends, accused him of sorcery and making a pact with the jinn.[9] Afterwards he set out on a long voyage that took him to India and Turkestan beyond the frontiers of Islamic lands.[9] About 290/902 he returned to Mecca for his final pilgrimage clad in an Indian loin-cloth and a patched garment over his shoulders.[9] There he prayed to God to be made despised and rejected, so that God alone might grant grace to Himself through His servant's lips.[9]

Imprisonment and execution[edit]

After returning to his family in Baghdad, al-Hallaj began making proclamations that aroused popular emotion and caused anxiety among the educated classes.[9] These included avowing his burning love of God and his desire to "die accursed for the Community", and statements such as "O Muslims, save me from God"[11] ... "God has made my blood lawful to you: kill me".[9] It was at that time that al-Hallaj is said to have pronounced his famous shath "I am the Truth".[9] He was denounced at the court, but a Shafi'i jurist refused to condemn him, stating that spiritual inspiration was beyond his jurisdiction.[9]

The Execution of Mansur Hallaj. Watercolor from Mughal India circa 1600.[12]

Al-Hallaj's preaching had by now inspired a movement for moral and political reform in Baghdad.[9] In 296/908 Sunni reformers made an unsuccessful attempt to depose the underage caliph Al-Muqtadir.[9] When he was restored, his Shi'i vizier unleashed anti-Hanbali repressions which prompted al-Hallaj to flee Baghdad, but three years later he was arrested, brought back, and put in prison, where he remained for nine years.[9]

The conditions of Al-Hallaj's confinement varied depending on the relative sway his opponents and supporters held at the court,[9] but he was finally condemned to death in 922 on the charge of being a Qarmatian rebel who wished to destroy the Kaaba, because he had said "the important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one's heart."[13] According to another report, the pretext was his recommendation to build local replicas of the Kaaba for those who are unable to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.[7] The queen-mother interceded with the caliph who initially revoked the execution order, but the intrigues of the vizier finally moved him to approve it.[13] On 23 Dhu 'l-Qa'da (25 March) trumpets announced his execution the next day.[13] The words he spoke during the last night in his cell are collected in Akhbar al-Hallaj.[13] Thousands of people witnessed his execution on the banks of the Tigris River. He was first punched in the face by his executioner, then lashed until unconscious, and then decapitated[14][15] or hanged.[7] Witnesses reported that Al-Hallaj's last words under torture were "all that matters for the ecstatic is that the Unique should reduce him to Unity", after which he recited the Quranic verse 42:18.[13] His body was doused in oil and set alight, and his ashes were then scattered into the river.[7] A cenotaph was "quickly" built on the site of his execution, and "drew pilgrims for a millennium"[16] until being swept away by a Tigris flood during the 1920s.[17]

Some question whether al-Hallaj was executed for religious reasons as has been commonly assumed. According to Carl W. Ernst, the legal notion of blasphemy was not clearly defined in Islamic law and statements of this kind were treated inconsistently by legal authorities.[18] In practice, since apostasy was subsumed under the category of zandaqa, which reflected the Zoroastrian legacy of viewing heresy as a political crime, they were prosecuted only when it was politically convenient.[18] Sadakat Kadri points out that "it was far from conventional to punish heresy in the tenth century," and it is thought he would have been spared execution except that the vizier of Caliph Al-Muqtadir wished to discredit "certain figures who had associated themselves" with al-Hallaj.[19] (Previously al-Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved, pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword, not executed because the Shafi'ite judge had ruled that his words were not "proof of disbelief."[19])[20]

Teachings and practices[edit]

Al-Hallaj addressed himself to popular audiences encouraging them to find God inside their own souls, which earned him the title of "the carder of innermost souls" (ḥallāj al-asrār).[7] He preached without the traditional Sufi habit and used language familiar to the local Shi'i population.[7] This may have given the impression that he was a Qarmatian missionary rather than a Sufi.[7] His prayer to God to make him lost and despised can be regarded as typical for a Sufi seeking annihilation in God, although Louis Massignon has interpreted it as an expression of a desire to sacrifice himself as atonement on behalf of all Muslims.[7] When al-Hallaj returned to Baghdad from his last pilgrimage to Mecca, he built a model of the Kaaba in his home for private worship.[7]

Al-Hallaj was popularly credited with numerous supernatural acts. He was said to have "lit four hundred oil lamps in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre with his finger and extinguished an eternal Zoroastrian flame with the tug of a sleeve."[14]

Among other Sufis, Al-Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet Al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. This was exacerbated by occasions when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God.[21]

Hallaj was also accused of incarnationism (hulul), the basis of which charge seems to be a disputed verse in which the author proclaims mystical union in terms of two spirits in one body. This position was criticized for not affirming union and unity strongly enough; there are two spirits left whereas the Sufi fana' texts speak of utter annihilation and annihilation in annihilation (the annihilation of the consciousness of annihilation), with only one actor, the deity, left.[22] Saer El-Jaichi has argued "that in speaking of the unity with the divine in terms of ḥulūl, Hallaj does not mean the fusion (or, mingling) of the divine and human substances." Rather, he has in mind "a heightened sense of awareness that culminates in the fulfillment of a spiritual – super-sensory – vision of God’s presence."[23]

Edward Said succinctly described al-Hallaj as "quasi-Christlike."[24]

There are conflicting reports about his most famous shath, أنا الحق Anā l-Ḥaqq "I am The Truth, " which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, since al-Ḥaqq "the Truth" is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah. The earliest report, coming from a hostile account of Basra grammarians, states that he said it in the mosque of Al-Mansur, while testimonies that emerged decades later claimed that it was said in private during consultations with Junayd Baghdadi.[7][9] Even though this utterance has become inseparably associated with his execution in the popular imagination, owing in part to its inclusion in his biography by Attar of Nishapur, the historical issues surrounding his execution are far more complex.[7] In another controversial statement, al-Hallaj claimed "There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, " and similarly he would point to his cloak and say, ما في جبتي إلا الله Mā fī jubbatī illā l-Lāh "There is nothing in my cloak but God." He also wrote:

I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
I asked, 'Who are You?'
He replied, 'You'.[25]

Works[edit]

Al-Hallaj's principal works, all written in Arabic, included:[13]

  • Twenty-seven Riwāyāt (stories or narratives) collected by his disciples in about 290/902.
  • Kitāb al-Tawāsīn, a series of eleven short works.
  • Poems collected in Dīwān al-Hallāj.
  • Pronouncements including those of his last night collected in Akhbār al-Hallāj.

His best known written work is the Book of al-Tawasin (كتاب الطواسين),[26] in which he used line diagrams and symbols to help him convey mystical experiences that he could not express in words.[7] Ṭawāsīn is the broken plural of the word ṭā-sīn which spells out the letters ṭā (ط) and sīn (س) placed for unknown reasons at the start of some surahs in the Quran.[26] The chapters vary in length and subject. Chapter 1 is an homage to the Prophet Muhammad, for example, while Chapters 4 and 5 are treatments of the Prophet's heavenly ascent to Mi'raj. Chapter 6 is the longest of the chapters and is devoted to a dialogue of Satan (Iblis) and God, where Satan refuses to bow to Adam, although God asks him to do so. Satan's monotheistic claim—that he refused to bow before any other than God even at the risk of eternal rejection and torment—is combined with the lyrical language of the love-mad lover from the Majnun tradition, the lover whose loyalty is so total that there is no path for him to any "other than" the beloved.[22] This passage explores the issues of mystical knowledge (ma'rifa) when it contradicts God's commands for although Iblis was disobeying God's commands, he was following God's will.[22] His refusal is due, others argue, 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). Al-Hallaj stated in this book:[27]

If you do not recognize God, at least recognize His sign, I am the creative truth
because through the truth, I am eternal truth.

— Ana al-Haqq

Classical era views[edit]

Few figures in Islam provoked as much debate among classical commentators as al-Hallaj.[28] The controversy cut across doctrinal categories.[28] In virtually every major current of juridical and theological thought (Jafari, Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi'i, Ash'ari, and Maturidi) one finds his detractors and others who accepted his legacy completely or justified his statements with some excuse.[28] His admirers among philosophers included Ibn Tufayl, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra.[28]

Although the majority of early Sufi teachers condemned him, he was almost unanimously canonized by later generations of Sufis.[28] The principal Sufi interpretation of the shathiyat which took the form of "I am" sayings contrasted the permanence (baqā) of God with the mystical annihilation (fanā) of the individual ego, which made it possible for God to speak through the individual.[18] Some Sufi authors claimed that such utterances were misquotations or attributed them to immaturity, madness or intoxication, while others regarded them as authentic expressions of spiritual states, even profoundest experience of divine realities, which should not be manifested to the unworthy.[18] Some of them, including al-Ghazali, showed ambivalence about their apparently blasphemous nature while admiring the spiritual status of their authors.[18] Rumi wrote: "When the pen (of authority) is in the hand of a traitor, unquestionably Mansur is on a gibbet"[29]

Modern views[edit]

The supporters of Mansur have interpreted his statement as meaning, "God has emptied me of everything but Himself. " According to them, Mansur never denied God's oneness and was a strict monotheist. However, he believed that the actions of man, when performed in total accordance with God's pleasure, lead to a blissful unification with Him.[30] Malayalam author Vaikom Muhammad Basheer draws parallel between "Anā al-Ḥaqq" and Aham Brahmasmi, the Upanishad Mahāvākya which means 'I am Brahman' (the Ultimate Reality in Hinduism). Basheer uses this term to intend God is found within one's 'self'. There was a belief among European historians that al-Hallaj was secretly a Christian, until the French scholar Louis Massignon presented his legacy in the context of Islamic mysticism in his four-volume work La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansûr Hallâj.[7]

Influence[edit]

Hallaj is highly revered by Yezidis, who composed a few religious hymns devoted to him. Elements of his views expressed in Kitab al-Tawasin can be found in their religion.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Walters Art Museum. The Hanging of Mansur al-Hallaj, from a manuscript of Diwan of Amir Khusrow, a.k.a. Hasan Dihlavi". Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Gavin D'Costa (2014), Vatican II: Catholic Doctrines on Jews and Muslims, quote: "...focused on the Sunni mystic al-Hallaj...", Oxford University Press, p. 186, ISBN 9780199659272
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b N. Hanif (2002), Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: Central Asia and Middle East, quote: "Al Hallaj, in fact, remained always a Sunni, with a strong leaning towards hard asoeticism in observing the Ramadan fasts...", Sarup & Sons, p. 188, ISBN 9788176252669
  4. ^ Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, Page 249, ISBN 81-8131-098-5
  5. ^ Irwin, Robert, ed. (2010). The new Cambridge history of Islam, Volume 4 (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-83824-5. Perhaps the most controversial Su! was the Persian mystic al-Hallaj (d. 309/922).
  6. ^ John Arthur Garraty, Peter Gay, The Columbia History of the World, Harper & Row, 1981, page 288, ISBN 0-88029-004-8
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jawid Mojaddedi, "ḤALLĀJ, ABU'L-MOḠIṮ ḤOSAYN b. Manṣur b. Maḥammā Bayżāwi" in Encyclopedia Iranica
  8. ^ "Al-Ḥallāj | Islamic mystic". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. pp. 99–100.
  10. ^ Dawn.com (November 10, 2011). "The story of Hallaj". DAWN.COM. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "Execution of Husain Ibn Mansur Al-hallaj". The Morgan Library & Museum. November 22, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  12. ^ Brooklyn Museum. The Execution of Mansur Hallaj, from the Warren Hastings Album.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. p. 101.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b Kadri 2012, p. 238.
  15. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:560-625.
  16. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:231.
  17. ^ Kadri 2012, p. 239.
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Carl W. Ernst (1997). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 9, "Shath". Brill. pp. 361–362.
  19. ^ Jump up to:a b Kadri 2012, p. 237.
  20. ^ Massignon 1982, p. 1:475.
  21. ^ "Life and teaching of Hallaj". March 13, 2021. Archived from the original on October 31, 2004.
  22. ^ Jump up to:a b c Sells, Michael Anthony. 1996. Early islamic mysticism: Sufi, Qurʼan, miraj, poetic and theological writings. New York: Paulist Press.
  23. ^ Early Philosophical Sufism: The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn Ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāğ. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
  24. ^ W., Said, Edward (2019). Orientalism. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-118742-5. OCLC 1200830761.
  25. ^ http://www.mohammedrustom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Rumis-Metaphysics-of-the-Heart-MRR-1-2010.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  26. ^ Jump up to:a b al-Hallaj, Mansur (1913). Kitab al-Tawasin (ed. Louis Massignon). Librairie Paul Geuthner.
  27. ^ Kitaab al-Tawaaseen, Massignon Press, Paris, 1913, vi, 32.
  28. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Louis Massignon, Louis Gardet (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, "Al-Halladj". Brill. p. 104.
  29. ^ Mathnawi Book 2: line 1398 Translated by Nicholson p.293. Persian: چون قلم در دست غداري بود / لاجـرم منصور بـر داري بـود
  30. ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Thompson Gale, (2004), p.290

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