Mansur-Al-Hallaj: Thanking The People For Expediting His Meeting With The Creator

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 20 January 2025 Nowadays, I'm reading Albert Ellis' desultory writings, essays, articles and monographs. By the way, Albert Ellis was an influential American psychologist and psychotherapist who developed Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). He was an important figure in the development of cognitive-behavioural therapies, and believed that it was important to focus on the conscious thinking and beliefs underlying emotional distress in order to better understand and ultimately reduce it. Ellis had a prolific career, publishing more than 800 articles, books, and monographs. He founded the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York City, and was the president of the American Psychological Association’s Division of the Advancement of Professional Practice from 1974 to 1975. Ellis was an avid writer, publishing in both academic and popular media. He was described as "one of psychology's most influential thinkers,"and a pioneering figure in the field of psychotherapy. He died in 2007 at the age of 93. One of his very famous quotes struck me like a blitzkrieg: "As a result of my philosophy, I wasn't even upset about Hitler. I was willing to go to war to knock him off, but I didn't hate him. I hated what he was doing." His philosophy of not hating people, but instead detesting their actions, is amazing. He was able to separate his emotions from the actions of a person, and in this quote he explains how even with Hitler, he was able to form a clear distinction between who he was and what he did. He was against the actions and willing to go to war to stop them, but he didn't hate Hitler himself. This philosophy is something that we could all strive for and use to better ourselves and our communities. Hate the sin, not the sinner (though not an original thought of M K Gandhi) was the leitmotif of Gandhian philosophy of non-violence. It's possible to criticize or disapprove of someone's actions or behaviour without harbouring hatred or ill will towards the individual themselves. All moral philosophers in the western world, esp. the French thinkers repeatedly quoted the French maxim, "Ses Actions Sont Immorales, Lui-Même Ne L'est Pas " (His actions are immoral, he himself is not). It's well-nigh impossible for the lesser mortals to separate individuals from their actions for, actions (esp. the bad and negative ones) and individuals are dovetailed. Whenever evil deeds are discussed, the perpetrators are also condemned in the same breath. Though this philosophy sounds too generous, compassionate and almost impractical, there have been greats who practised it. The PUTATIVE Jesus forgave those (Roman soldiers) who nailed him to the cross. When the Persian mystic Mansur-al-Hallaj was being excoriated for his ecstatic proclamation of An-al-Haq (Upanishad's Aham Brahmasmi: I'm the Truth) on March 26, 922 CE (he was born and excoriated on the same day!), he said, "I thank these people-peeling off my skin-for expediting my meeting with the Creator." See, Mansur went even a step ahead! He condemned neither the heartless perpetrators nor their unthinkably evil act of flaying him! Such magnanimity of spirit is simply incredible. ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/mansur-hallaj-creator/d/134381 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism