Since the ‘humanity’ (_nāsūt_) of God comprises the whole bodily and
spiritual nature of man, the ‘divinity’ (_lāhūt_) of God cannot unite
with that nature except by means of an incarnation or, to adopt the
term employed by Massignon, an infusion (_hulūl_) of the divine Spirit,
such as takes place when the human spirit enters the body.[22] Thus
Hallāj says in one of his poems:
“Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit even as wine is mingled with
pure water.
When anything touches Thee, it touches me. Lo, in every case
Thou art I!”
And again:
“I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I:
We are two spirits dwelling in one body.
If thou seest me, thou seest Him,
And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both.”
[22] Massignon appears to be right in identifying the Divine Spirit
with the Active Reason (_intellectus agens_), which, according to
Alexander of Aphrodisias, is not a part or faculty of our soul, but
comes to us from without. See Inge, _Christian Mysticism_, pp. 360,
361. The doctrine of Hallāj may be compared with that of Tauler,
Ruysbroeck, and others concerning the birth of God in the soul.
This doctrine of personal deification, in the peculiar form which was
impressed upon it by Hallāj, is obviously akin to the central doctrine
of Christianity, and therefore, from the Moslem standpoint, a heresy of
the worst kind. It survived unadulterated only amongst his immediate
followers. The Hulūlīs, _i.e._ those who believe in incarnation, are
repudiated by Sūfīs in general quite as vehemently as by orthodox
Moslems. But while the former have unhesitatingly condemned the
doctrine of _hulūl_, they have also done their best to clear Hallāj
from the suspicion of having taught it. Three main lines of defence are
followed: (1) Hallāj did not sin against the Truth, but he was justly
punished in so far as he committed a grave offence against the Law. He
“betrayed the secret of his Lord” by proclaiming to all and sundry the
supreme mystery which ought to be reserved for the elect. (2) Hallāj
spoke under the intoxicating influence of ecstasy. He imagined himself
to be united with the divine essence, when in fact he was only united
with one of the divine attributes. (3) Hallāj meant to declare that
there is no essential difference or separation between God and His
creatures, inasmuch as the divine unity includes all being. A man who
has entirely passed away from his phenomenal self exists _quâ_ his real
self, which is God.
“In that glory is no ‘I’ or ‘We’ or ‘Thou.’
‘I,’ ‘We,’ ‘Thou,’ and ‘He’ are all one thing.”
It was not Hallāj who cried “_Ana ’l-Haqq_,” but God Himself, speaking,
as it were, by the mouth of the selfless Hallāj, just as He spoke to
Moses through the medium of the burning bush (Kor. =20.= 8-14).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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