To what point belongs the saying “Ana al-Haqq”?
What do you say? Is this ultimate riddle just nonsense?*

Reply

“Ana al-Haqq” is a complete unveiling of secrets.
Except for the Real, who may say, “I am the Real”?

All of the atoms of the world just like Mansur,
you should take as ecstatic and drunk:

They’re ever in glorifying and exalting God
subsisting in the true meaning of [“I am the Real.”]

If you want this to become easy for you,
recite the verse, “Everything is praising God.”

Once you have carded the cotton of ‘yourself,’
you too like Hallaj will breathe such words.

Pluck from your ears the cotton of illusion.
Listen to the call of the One, the All-Powerful.

The call is coming from the Real without pause.
Why do you wait for the Day of Resurrection?

Come into the Valley of Aiman where unawares,
you’ll hear the burning bush say, “Truly I am God.”**

Anyone with no trace of doubt in his heart
knows with certainty of no existence except One.

 

*This is the seventh inquiry answered by Mahmud Shabistari (1288-1340 CE) in his “Garden of Mystery.” The words “Ana al-Haqq” were uttered by the Persian mystic Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 – 922 CE) in a moment of ecstasy; they mean, “I am the Truth.”  For these words, by which he appeared to claim Divinity, or to speak as God, he was brought to trial, and ultimately condemned and executed. The riddle in the inquiry is that which a seeker faces constantly: if all is One, why do I have separate identity?  But how can a drop of water speak as the Sea?

**This verse refers to the experience of Moses, hearing the voice of God from the burning bush.

from Garden of Mystery, The Gulshabn-i-raz of Mahmud Shabistari
tr. Robert Abdul Hayy Darr