Mansoor

Mansoor has become an eternal light, for the simple reason that he was killed, brutally killed — yes, chopped into parts. Jesus’ death compared to Mansoor’s looks very human, compassionate. Mansoor was killed part by part. First his legs were cut off, then his hands, then his eyes were taken out, then his tongue was cut out, then his head was cut off — in parts, in pieces.

But Mansoor became the most precious name in the whole Sufi tradition; and the tradition is rich: Bahauddin, Jalaluddin, Hassan, Rabiya, Mansoor’s own master, Junnaid, and thousands of others who have become enlightened.

These two traditions in the world have created the most enlightened people: one is Zen, born out of Buddha’s insight, and another is Sufism, born out of Mohammed’s insight. These two traditions have created the greatest light in the world. But you cannot find a single name in Zen compared to Mansoor, for the simple reason that no Zen master was chopped up, killed, crucified.
– The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 7, Chapter #4

Mansoor has a beauty as far as his words are concerned, a tremendous poetry, far superior to the KORAN.
– From Bondage to Freedom, Chapter #35

Sufi mystics, Al-Hillaj Mansoor…. I love the man very much. There have been many mystics, and there will be many mystics, but I don’t think anybody will have the same taste as Al-Hillaj Mansoor. He was rare in every sense.
– The Messiah, Vol 2, Chapter #13

Somebody asked al-Hillaj Mansoor, the greatest mystic ever, ‘What is the ultimate in Sufi experience?’ Al-Hillaj said, ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow you will see what the ultimate in Sufi experience is.’ Nobody knew what was going to happen the next day. The man asked, ‘Why not today?’ Al-Hillaj said, ‘You just wait. It is going to happen tomorrow — the ultimate.’ And the next day he was crucified. And when he was crucified he shouted loudly for his friend who had asked the question. He said, ‘Where are you hiding in the crowd? Now come on and see the ultimate in Sufism. This is what it is.’

If you start living in God you become intolerable to the so-called society. The society lives in hypocrisy. It cannot tolerate truth. Truth has to be crucified. It can love the Church but it cannot love Christ. It can love the Vatican pope but it cannot love Jesus. When Jesus is gone then it is good — you can go on worshipping him. When Mansoor is gone you can go on talking about him. But when he is there he is a fire. Only those who are ready to be consumed by the fire will be ready to fall in love with Mansoor.
– Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1, Chapter #1

This man, Mansoor, became a man of unique individuality. Wherever he went he was immediately recognised; it was impossible to miss him.
– Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 2, Chapter #3

There is a saying of Mansoor: “Death is impossible for me, because I have accepted it.” It will be so, it is so. Death exists because of your fear of death. It cannot exist it you accept it, if you are ready to meet it, to invite it and embrace it.
– The Eternal Quest, Chapter #13

I saw one of the most beautiful fellows. I have talked about him, but not mentioned him in the list of fifty, the arbitrary list. The name of the man is al-Hillaj Mansoor. Al-Hillaj has not written a book but only a few statements, or rather declarations. People like al-Hillaj only declare, not out of any egoism — they don’t have any ego, that’s why they declare, “ana’l haq!”

Ana’l haq! is his declaration and it means “I am God, and there is no other God.” Mohammedans could not forgive him; they killed him. But can you kill an al-Hillaj? It is impossible! Even while they were killing him he was laughing.

Somebody asked, “Why are you laughing?”
He replied, “Because you are not killing me, you are killing only the body, and I have said again and again that I am not my body. Ana’l haq! I am God himself.” Now these men are the very salt of the earth.

Al-Hillaj Mansoor has not written any book; just a few of his declarations have been collected by his lovers and friends. I will not even say followers, because men like al-Hillaj don’t even accept followers, imitators — they only accept lovers, friends.
– Books I Have Loved, Chapter #6