Hazrat Mansoor

Hazrat Mansoor was born in a village in Iran. Soon his parents shifted to Iraq. But he got education from Janab Suhel Bin Abdulla in the city of Shuster. After that he shifted to Iraq and started living in the company of Great Sufis like Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi, Hazrat Umar Bin Usman of Basra. He read the books on Sufi Philosophy written by Usman Sahib. The result was that he started talking of those things which most of the Sufis kept concealed. People who were ignorant about the inner spiritual knowledge could not appreciate his real state of progress on the inner path and they became his enemies. Even Hazrat Umar Bin Usman disliked it and separated him.

Mansoor left Basra and went to Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi and remained there in his company. Here also he started behaving in the same way. One day he asked certain questions to Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi. To which he remarked, ‘The day is not far off when a corner of wooden plank will be coloured with your blood’. It was a hint that soon he will get the capital punishment. At that moment Mansoor also predicted that before the day comes, you too will have to remove your Sufi dress.

He left Bagdad also and went to Shuster where he earned a great respect as a learned philosopher. Thereafter he went out to various places and preached the teachings of Sufis. In his journeys, he visited India also. After returning from India, he changed totally and was always engrossed in the love of God. The condition of his spiritual madness was such that people could not understand what he was saying. The result was that they started hating him.

Finally he came to Bagdad and met Hazrat Shibli. Explaining his inner condition, he said that except the beloved God, in his view, everything of the world, the living beings and even Mansoor himself was nowhere. Hazrat Shibli advised him that he should keep the secret of his inner love concealed from the world. He followed the advice and controlled himself to a great extent. But he could not do so for long and started saying ‘Analhaq’ ‘Analhaq’ which means, ‘I am the God’. People were astonished and the learned ones tried to advise him that saying thus is commiting Kufr, against the scriptures. But it had no effect on Mansoor. His such condition increased day by day so much that one day he uttered, ‘I am the one whom I love and my beloved is none else but me, so when you see me, you see Him and when you see Him, you see me.’

The people got annoyed all the more. The learned ones complained why he was not being punished for uttering such Kufr ? They consulted the Sufis also. At last the Maulvis declared him Kafir. Mansoor remained silent. His silence was misunderstood to be his acceptance of the charge. But Mansoor did not bother about anything and continued saying ‘Analhaq’, ‘Analhaq’ as before. The result was that he was imprisoned and even desired to be killed.

His opponents tried their best that somehow he should be given the capital punishment. They met the Mufti, Alama Abul Abbah. But he did not respond. They contacted the Minister to Khalifa and tried to instigate him against Mansoor. The Minister took the advice of Ulmas. The Ulmas demanded some written proof of his statements against the scriptures. They brought some portion of his writings which according to Mansoor he had copied from some book. But the opponents were not satisfied. They insisted and pressurized the Qazi for the Fatwa, the verdict for the capital punishment. Mansoor was sent to the prison again. And the verdict was sent to the Khalifa for his final approval for the capital punishment.

Khalifa said that as long as Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi will not give his written consent to the punishment, he will not give any orders. The minister asked Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi for his consent. Though initially he preferred to not to intervene in any way, but finally he removed the garb of Sufis and wore the dress of Learned Persons (Ulmas) and wrote, ‘Seeing his external behavior, the capital punishment is being recommended, but as far as inner spiritual state is concerned, God alone knows it better.’ This had proved the earlier predictions of both Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi as well as of Mansoor true.

After about an year, Mansoor was given the capital punishment. Even after his soul left his body, there was sound of ‘Analhaq’ repeatedly coming from it. Wherever his blood oozed on the ground, ‘Analhaq’ got written. They therefore burned his body. The sound of ‘Analhq’ was coming from the ashes. The threw the ashes in the river Dajla. The river overflowed and the sound of ‘Analhaq’ was coming from the water. There was flood in the river and the water moved towards the city to sink it.

Mansoor had already given instructions to one of his servants that when they throw his ashes in the river, the river will be flooded and will move towards Bagdad. At that time the servant was to show his Kurta (shirt) towards the river. Accordinly the servant did the same the river calmed down.