World Travel Backpacking

BAGHDAD, IRAQ--The tomb of sufi mystic Mansour Al-Hallaj (दरगाह मंसूर अल हल्लाज | مرقد منصور الحلاج) is a low profile shrine to a man better known outside of Iraq than inside of Iraq. To many, Mansour Al-Hallaj is a revelation. Known as a mystic who had annihilated the concept of self to become one with God, Mansour Al-Hallaj was executed for just that. Those who had come to hear the teachings of Mansour Al-Hallaj were polarized, and those that were in power in Baghdad declared Mansour Al-Hallaj to be a heretic after he proclaimed that he is the “truth“. Mansour Al-Hallaj’s claims were interpreted to be a declaration of divination and therefore blaspheny. And so, in 922, Mansour Al-Hallaj was hanged on the banks of the Tigris River. Today, many believe that Mansour Al-Hallaj’s remains rest in the very site which I visited. The tomb of the Sufi mystic is low profile and maintained by one woman and her family who also live at the shrine. It is basically a room in someone’s house.