Mansur Al-Hallaj, Persian mystic and poet (born 858)

Mansour al-Hallaj or Mansour Hallaj was a Persian Hanbali mystic, poet, and teacher of Sufism. He was best known for his saying, "I am the Truth" ("Ana'l-Ḥaqq"), which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego, which allowed God to speak through him. Al-Hallaj gained a wide following as a preacher before he became implicated in power struggles of the Abbasid court and was executed after a long period of confinement on religious and political charges. Although most of his Sufi contemporaries disapproved of his actions, Hallaj later became a major figure in the Sufi tradition.