A literary history of Persia

AL-HUSAYN B. MANSER AL-HALlAj 361as to what was meant by a Rafidt or a heretic, they would neitherknow nor be capable of 'understanding Thus Ibn Miskawayh, the!author of the Tajdribu'l-umam, who defends this great leader ofthought (Imam) from these charges. Now as to what he says concerningthe fanaticism of the mob, the matter was not so ; only someof the Hanbalites, inspired with a fanatical hatred of him, attackedhim, and they were followed by others. And for this there was areason, which was that Tabari compiled a book, the like of whichhad never been composed, wherein he mentioned the differencesbut omitted all reference to Ahmadof opinion of the theologians,b. Hanbal. And when he was taken to task about this, he said,' 'He was not a theologian, but only a traditionist ;and this annoyedthe Hanbalites, who were innumerable in Baghdad so they stirred;up mischief against him, and said what they pleased."Of an utterly different character to this sober and eruditehistorian was another Persian of this period, whose reputationMansuraf-Haudj.somewhat transfigured, it is true, by pioushagiologistsis at least as enduring amongst hiscountrymen, and to whom admiring referencesare frequently made by the Persian Siiff poets, such as Farfdu'd-Dfn 4 Attar, Hafidh and the like. This was al-Husayn b.Mansur " the Wool-carder "(al-Hallaj),who was arrested forpreaching heretical doctrines in Baghdad and the neighbourhoodin A.D. 913 (Tabarf, iii, p. 2289), and put to death withcircumstances of great crueltyin A.D. 921. The chargeagainst him which is chiefly remembered is that in a state otecstasy he " cried, Ana'1-Haqq " ("I am the True One," or"the Fact,"i.e.God), and the Stiffs regard this utterance asthe outcome of a state of exaltation wherein the Seer was solost in rapture at the contemplation of the Beatific Vision ofthe Deity that he lost all cognisance and consciousness of himself,and indeed of all Phenomenal Being. At most, say they,his crime was only that he revealed the secret ;and generallyhe isregarded as a saint and a martyr. Thus Hafidh says (ed.Rosenzweig-Schwannau, vol. i, p. 364) :Chu Mansiirdn nturdd dndn ki bar ddrand bar ddr-and,Ki bd in dard agar dar band-i-darmdn-and, dar mdnantt.