discussions of clothing, hair, home furnishings,
pets, employment, business, bathing, male and
female relations, child rearing, toys, recreational
activities, social relations, and relations with non-
Muslims.
See also aUthority; FatWa; Food and drink.
Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic
Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chicago: ABC
International Group, 1996); Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The
Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Al-halal wal-haram fi
al-Islam). Translated by Kamal El-Helbawi, M. Moinud-
din Siddiqui, and Syed Shukry (Indianapolis: American
Trust Publications, 1960).
al-Hallaj, al-Husayn ibn Mansur (857–
922) controversial early Sufi remembered for his
proclamation “I am the Truth” and for the martyr’s
death he suffered at the hands of Muslim authorities
in Baghdad
Born in the Fars region of southern Iran, al-
Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj moved with his
family to Wasit, a town in central Iraq. His father
probably worked in the textile industry (hallaj is
Arabic for a person in the cotton or wool carder
profession). In his youth, al-Hallaj memorized the
qUran and studied sUFism with Sahl al-Tustari (d.
896), but he was not initiated as a Sufi until he
was 20 years old. Marriage did not sway him from
his spiritual quest, and, traveling between iran,
iraq, and mecca, he reportedly gained a following
of 400 disciples. He was also said to have visited
india, Central Asia, and the tomb of JesUs in Jeru-
salem. After performing the haJJ to Mecca for the
third time, he returned to his family in baghdad
and created a model of the kaaba in his house.
Al-Hallaj’s affiliations with rebels, Shiis, and non-
Muslims eventually aroused the suspicions of
conservative Sunnis and political authorities.
Some of his former Sufi associates even accused
him of magic and witchcraft. Moreover, while
engaged in his spiritual quest for God, he made
public sermons and statements that angered his
opponents. In one of these, he said that Muslims
could fulfill the hajj duty by performing circum-
ambulations in their hearts and giving charity to
the poor at home. His most famous utterance was,
“I am the Truth,” which his enemies interpreted to
be an assertion of his own divinity. In the Islamic
worldview, Truth (haqq) was regarded as an attri-
bute of God. Sufis made such statements (sha-
thiyyat) while in a state of ecstasy, implying that
they were speaking in God’s voice, not their own.
Al-Hallaj soon became implicated in the religious
and political intrigues of 10th-century Baghdad
and was imprisoned for nine years. Finally put on
trial by his enemies in 922, he was charged with
blasphemy, beaten, and crucified. His remains
were burned and thrown into the Tigris River,
preventing his family and friends from giving him
a proper Muslim burial or from venerating him as
a saint. Al-Hallaj consequently has a mixed legacy,
remembered by some as a heretic and by others as
a martyred saint. His sayings were written down
and collected by his followers. He is also credited
for having written Kitab al-Tawasin, an assemblage
of meditations on mUhammad, the prophet’s night
JoUrney and ascent, and sata n’s dialogues with
God and moses.
See also apostasy; FUnerary ritUals; haqiqa;
JUnayd, abU al-qasim ibn mUhammad; martyrdom.Further reading: Louis Massignon, The Passion of al-
Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam, 4 vols. Translated by
Herbert Mason (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1982); Michael Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism:
Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (New
York: Paulist Press, 1996), 266–280.Hamas
Hamas, an Arabic acronym for the “Islamic Resis-
tance Movement,” emerged from the mUslim
brotherhood during the first Palestinian intifada
(uprising of the West Bank and Gaza territories
against Israeli occupation). With charitable, polit-
ical, and militant wings, Hamas became a contro-Hamas 285 J