Ghulam Khalil's trial of the Sufis in Baghdad

In al-Luma', Abu Nasr al-Sarraj tells of a trial that befell a group of Baghdad Sufis in the days of al-Muwaffaq, set in motion by Ghulam Khalil, who "used to denounce" them. ¹ Among the sources read here the account is al-Sarraj's alone; he gives it in his chapter on "the shaykhs whom they accused of unbelief", and he takes the Sufis' side in it. ⁴

Al-Sarraj says, "according to what reached me", that Abu al-Husayn al-Nuri lived in the days of al-Muwaffaq, to whom it was reported that there was a zindiq in Baghdad whose blood was lawful, the informer taking his blood on his own neck if he were killed. Al-Nuri was brought before him, and Ghulam Khalil testified that he had heard him say: "I love God passionately ('ishq) and He loves me passionately." ¹ Al-Nuri cited the verse of mutual love, al-Ma'ida 54, and said passionate love is no more than love, except that the passionate lover is denied and the lover enjoys his love; and al-Muwaffaq wept. ¹ The editor notes that al-Muwaffaq held power and direction of affairs, not holding the caliphate in name but exercising it in fact, and died in 278 AH. ¹

Al-Sarraj relates that they also testified that al-Nuri, hearing the call to prayer, said "a stab and the poison of death", and hearing dogs bark said "Here I am, at Your service"; he explained that he was jealous for God against a muezzin who mentions Him heedlessly for a wage, while the dog and everything else glorify God without show. On another occasion he was brought to the caliph for saying "Last night I was in my house with God", and cited the verse of nearness, Qaf 16; the caliph told him to speak as he wished, and he spoke until they all wept. ^{1 5}

In another chapter al-Sarraj relates that a woman fell for Samnun "the Lover", who drove her from his circle and refused to marry her; knowing Ghulam Khalil to be hostile to the Sufis, she went to him and claimed that a group of them met with her for unlawful ends. Ghulam Khalil testified against them, saying "These are zindiqs and their blood is on my neck", and the ruler ordered them beheaded, "until God lifted that from them" and saved them. ^{2 3}

Al-Sarraj divides the Sufis' opponents into two groups: those who did not understand their words and did not ask those who knew, some of whom repented while others died so and are in God's hands; and those who understood them but made attacking them a "ladder" to leadership and popular favour. ⁴ He places the Ghulam Khalil account among others in the chapter: Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, accused of heresy and then sent back with honour; Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz, some of whose words in his Kitab al-Sirr scholars condemned; and 'Amr ibn 'Uthman al-Makki. ^{2 3} Al-Sarraj's judgements on the Sufis' opponents in this chapter are his own; the museum does not affirm them.