Chosen Saints of God and the Bigoted Mullas — Page 18
noble example. They valiantly opposed the narrow-minded, mercenary and time-serving egotistical Mullas so that they might not misguide and mislead the general public. . The first noteworthy saint to suffer at the hands of these self-seeking Mullas was Hussain Mansoor Hallaaj who was a great saint of his age and at whose hands people had seen many signs and miracles. He was a true devotee and a great Sufi who had, so to say, submerged himself in his Creator so completely and perfectly that he felt that he had become one with Him. In the height and intensity of love and in the state of ecstacy he would utter the words, "I am the Lord". . This was a matter which the narrow-minded Mullas could never understand and conceive in their minds and considered it a very great blasphemy. A great storm of opposition was raised against the holy man on account of these unorthodox utterances. . They declared him to be a renegade and a seasoned heretic under the Law of God and the Traditions of the Holy Prophet as interpreted by them. . For a number of years the venerable saint was made to rot in the prison and eventually under the royal decree of the Caliph. Muqtadar of Baghdad he was executed. (Qaamoos-ul-Mushaaheer: vol. 2: p. 234 compiled by Nizami Badaayooni). Maulana Raees Ahmad Jaffari stated that, "Under the verdict given by Daood-al-Asphahaani Al-Zaahiri he (Mansoor. Hallaaj) was first arrested in 297 Hijra. . . The second time he was arrested in the year 301 Hijra and was kept in prison for eight years continuously. In 309 Hijra, a sentence was passed against him saying that he was first to be given lashes on his bare back; then his hands and feet be dismembered and then his head was to be cut off. All the severed parts of his body be scorched in fire and then thrown into the river Tigris. No one could stop the execution of this barbarous punishment. . Hallaaj was tortured to death in such a brutal manner because he, sometimes used to utter "I am the Lord". By this he only meant that he was so much engrossed in the love of his 18