“I am the Truth”: Mahmud Shabistari’s and Muhammad Iqbal’s Points of View

Abstract

The article deals with, maybe, the most important phrase in the Tasawwuf history, said by Mansur al-Hallaj (244/858–309/922) – “I am The Truth” (anā l-Ḥaqq). These words could be one of the reasons he was executed. This death had a great deal of symbolism from the Sufi point of view, because the Sufi’s aim is to annihilate himself for the sake of the Truth. The death of the al-Hallajian’s body was the result of his mystic annihilation (fana) that was expressed in the words “I am The Truth”. It’s difficult to find an author in the history of Tasawuf, who would avoid to comment these words of al-Hallaj, not saying a word about the opponents of Sufism who used the saying to accuse the sufis of selfidolization and idolization of the created world. Mahmud Shabistari, one of the outstanding medieval thinkers also could not ignore in his masterpiece “The Rose Garden of Mystery” the problem of The God and human being relations, stated by the Hallajian words. The Shabistari’s point of view differs from the al-Gazalian’s and Ibn Arabian’s ones, so it raises the question of the reasons for it’s difference. The poem by Mahmud Shabistari itself attracted an interest of Islamic scholars and thinkers. One of the most recent appeals to the poem was the reply on it written by Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) and named “The New Rose Garden of Mystery”. Alike Shabistari he dedicates the Hallajian words a special chapter, which introduces his own alternative point of view at the meaning of the words, said by al-Hallaj. The text of the article contains translations from Persian of relevant chapters from the poems by Muhammad Iqbal and Mahmud Shabistari.