by Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj
Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858–922 CE) was executed in Baghdad for saying "Ana al-Haqq" — I am the Truth. He is the most controversial and most beloved figure in the history of Sufism: a mystic who refused to hide his experience of divine union behind the veil of metaphor.
The Bustān al-Ma'rifa (Garden of Knowledge) is one of al-Hallaj's lesser-known prose works, overshadowed by the more famous Kitāb al-Tawāsīn. It is a short treatise on ma'rifa — direct mystical knowledge of God — in which al-Hallaj systematically demolishes every approach the human mind can take toward knowing the divine. Each section begins with "Whoever says..." and ends in paradox. The cumulative effect is devastating: by the end, every route to God has been destroyed, and what remains is the garden itself — the impossibility of knowledge as its own form of knowledge.
This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Arabic, translated independently from the Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya critical edition of al-Hallaj's collected works. It is believed to be the first complete, free English translation of this text.
Said the learned, noble stranger Abū 'Umāra al-Husayn ibn Mansūr al-Hallāj, may God sanctify his spirit:
1. Knowledge is hidden within the indefinite, and the indefinite is hidden within knowledge. The indefinite is the quality of the knower — or his ornament — and ignorance is his form. The form of knowledge is absent from comprehension, returning: how did he know Him — and there is no "how"? Where did he know Him — and there is no "where"? How did he arrive, when there is no arrival? How did he separate, when there is no separation? Knowledge has never been valid for anything limited, nor anything counted, nor anything striven for, nor anything toiled over.
2. Knowledge is beyond the beyond, beyond the farthest reach, beyond aspiration, beyond secrets, beyond reports, beyond perception. All of these are things that did not exist and then existed. And that which did not exist and then existed can only be contained in a place. And the One who has always existed was before directions, causes, and instruments. How can directions contain Him? How can endings reach Him?
3. Whoever says "I knew Him through my absence" — how can the absent know the Present?
4. Whoever says "I knew Him through my existence" — two eternals cannot be.
5. Whoever says "I knew Him when I became ignorant of Him" — ignorance is a veil, and knowledge behind the veil has no reality.
6. Whoever says "I knew Him by the Name" — the Name does not separate from the Named, for it is not created.
7. Whoever says "I knew Him through Him" — then he has pointed to two known things.
8. Whoever says "I knew Him through His works" — then he stopped at the works without the Worker.
9. Whoever says "I knew Him through my inability to know Him" — the one who is unable is cut off. And how can the cut-off one perceive the Known?
10. Whoever says "As He knew me, I knew Him" — then he pointed to knowledge and returned to the known. But the known is separate from the Essence. And whoever is separate from the Essence — how can he perceive the Essence?
11. Whoever says "I knew Him as He described Himself" — then he settled for the report without the trace.
12. Whoever says "I knew Him on two terms" — the Known is one thing. He is not divisible, and He is not —
13. Whoever says "The Known knew Himself" — then he has admitted that the knower is an uninvited guest in between, because the Known has always been, as He always was, knowing Himself.
14. What wonder — one who does not know how a single hair on his body grows, whether it grows black or white. How can such a one know the Maker of all things? One who does not know the summary and the detail, does not know the last and the first, the transformations, the intellect, the realities, and the subtle means — no knowledge of the One who has always been can be valid for him.
15. Glory to the One who veiled them by Name, by mark, by brand. He veiled them by speech, by state, by perfection, by beauty — from the One who has always been and will always be. The heart is a hollow lump. Knowledge does not settle in it, for it is lordly.
16. Understanding has length and width. Contemplation is custom and obligation. And all of creation is in heaven and earth.
17. But knowledge has no length and no width. It does not dwell in heaven or on earth. It does not settle in the outer or the inner like custom and obligation.
18. Whoever says "I knew Him through reality" — then he has made his own existence greater than the existence of the Known, because whoever knows a thing through reality has become stronger than his known in the moment of knowing it.
19. O you — what in all existence is less than an atom, and you cannot perceive it. If you cannot know the atom, how can you know what is subtler than the atom with certainty? The knower is "the one who saw." And knowledge is "by the one who remained." Knowledge is established on the side of deficiency, and in it there is something particular — like the circle of the eye, split open.
20. On the side of the dissolving and the sealed from the side of essential knowledge — its eye is absent in its letter by materiality. Its letter is severed, its thoughts separated from it: heedless, desiring. Its seeker is its fearer. Its fearer is its setter. Its riser is the setter of its setter. Its setter is a riser. It has no above that is high, and no below that is near.
21. Knowledge is separate from created things, permanent with permanence. Its roads are blocked — there is no path to it. Its meanings are manifest — there is no proof upon it. The senses do not perceive it, and the descriptions of people do not reach it.
22. Its possessor is one. Its practitioner has no one beside him. Its watcher sleeps. Its seizer rests. Its clinger loses. Its lightning persists. Its knocker toils. Its transgressor clings. Its wrestler praises. Its fearer is an ascetic. No watcher can extend it. Its weights are its lords are its causes.
23. As-if-it, as-if-it, as-if-it. As-if-He, as-if-He, as-if-He. As-if-it, as-if-it. As-if-He, as-if-He. As-if-He, as-if-it. As-if-He, as-if-He. As-if-it, as-if-it. Its structures are its pillars are its foundations in its building. Our companions are its companions. A splendour — for it a splendour. It is not He, and He is not it. He is nothing but it, and it is nothing but He. It is nothing but He, and He is nothing but He.
24. The knower is "the one who saw," and knowledge is "by the one who remained." Thus: the knower with his knowing, because his knowing is his knowing and his knowing is him. And knowledge is beyond that, and the Known is beyond that.
25. The rest of the story is with the storytellers. And knowledge is with the elect. And hardship is with persons. And speech is with the people of whispered doubt. And thought is with the people of despair. And heedlessness is with the people of solitude.
26. And the Truth is truth, and creation is creation, and there is no harm.
Colophon
Translated from Classical Arabic by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Good Works Translation — independently derived from the Arabic source text, the Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya critical edition of al-Hallaj's collected works (ed. Abū 'Abd al-Rahmān bin 'Aqīla al-Makkī, Beirut), accessed via Internet Archive as OCR text.
The Arabic source text contains OCR artifacts from the djvu digitisation process. Where the OCR garbled characters (notably consistent ق/ف confusion rendering المعرفة as المعرقة), corrections were made based on context and the grammar of Classical Arabic. All corrections are self-evident to any reader of the language and do not represent interpretive choices.
Reference translations consulted: Louis Massignon's French rendering in his study of al-Hallaj's corpus was known to exist but was not consulted during translation. The English here is independently derived from the Arabic.
Section 23 — the famous "ka'annaha" passage — is among the most deliberately untranslatable passages in Sufi literature. Al-Hallaj uses the repetition of كأنها/كأنه ("as if it/she" / "as if he") to dissolve the subject-object distinction in Arabic grammar itself. The feminine pronoun (ها, referring to ma'rifa — knowledge) and the masculine pronoun (ه, referring to God or the Known) alternate and merge until the grammar breaks down. The translation preserves the repetitive, incantatory quality; the Arabic achieves something that English cannot fully reproduce.
The Bustān al-Ma'rifa is structured as an apophatic demolition — each section destroys one more avenue to divine knowledge, until nothing remains except the final declaration: "The Truth is truth, and creation is creation, and there is no harm." This "no harm" (لا بأس) is al-Hallaj at his most paradoxical: the impossibility of knowing God is not a tragedy. It is the garden itself.
First English translation. Translated from Arabic by Halim (حليم), Arabic Sufi Translator (life 48), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
See also: Kitāb al-Tawāsīn — The Book of the Divine Manifestation, al-Hallaj's masterwork on prophecy, divine unity, and annihilation in God. See also: Letters of al-Junaid, the epistles of al-Hallaj's teacher, the master of sober Sufism.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲
Source Text: بستان المعرفة
Arabic source text from the Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya critical edition of al-Hallaj's collected works, digitised via Internet Archive (djvu OCR). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. OCR artifacts are preserved as-is; see colophon for notes on textual corrections made during translation.
بستان المعرفة
١ - قال العالم السيد الغريب أبو عمارة الحسين بن منصور الحلاج قدس الله روحه : المعرفة في ضمن النكرة مخفية ، والنكرة في ضمن المعرفة مخفية ، النكرة صفة العارف أو حليته ، والجهل صورته ، فصورة المعرفة عن الأفهام غائبة آيبة ، كيف عرفه و«لا كيف» ؟ أين عرفه و «لا أين» ؟ كيف وصل ولا وصل ؟ كيف انفصل ولا فصل ؟ ما صحت المعرفة لمحدود قط ، ولا لمعدود ولا لمجهود ولا لمكدود .
٢ - المعرفة وراء الوراء ، وراء المدى، ووراء الهمة ، ووراء الأسرار ووراء الأخبار ، ووراء الإدراك . هذه كلها شيء لم يكن فكان ، والذي لم يكن ثم كان لا يحصل إلا في مكان ، والذي لم يزل كان قبل الجهات والعلات والآلات . كيف تضمنته الجهات وكيف تلحقه النهايات .
٣ - ومن قال : عرفته بفقدي ، فالمفقود كيف يعرف الموجود ؟
٤ - ومن قال : عرفته بوجودي ، فقديمان لا يكونان .
٥ - ومن قال : عرفته حين جهلته ، والجهل حجاب ؛ والمعرفة وراء الحجاب لا حقيقة لها .
٦ - ومن قال : عرفته بالاسم ، فالاسم لا يفارق المسمى لأنه ليس بمخلوق .
٧ - ومن قال : عرفته به ، فقد أشار إلى معروفين .
٨ - ومن قال : عرفته بصنعه ؛ فقد اكتفى بالصنع دون الصانع .
٩ - ومن قال : عرفته بالعجز عن معرفته ، فالعاجز منقطع . والمنقطع كيف يدرك المعروف ؟
١٠ - ومن قال : كما عرفني عرفته . فقد أشار إلى العلم فرجع إلى المعلوم ، والمعلوم يفارق الذات ، ومن فارق الذات ، كيف يدرك الذات ؟
١١ - ومن قال : عرفته كما وصف نفسه فقد قنع بالخبر دون الأثر .
١٢ - ومن قال : عرفته على حدين ، فالمعروف شيء واحد، لا يتجزأ ولا
١٣ - ومن قال : المعروف عرف نفسه فقد أقر بأن العارف في البين متكلف به لأن المعروف لم يزل كما كان عارفا بنفسه .
١٤ - يا عجبا ممن لا يعرف شعرة من بدنه كيف تنبت سوداء أم بيضاء . كيف مكون الأشياء ، من لا يعرف المجمل والمفصل ، ولا يعرف الآخر والأول والتصاريف والعقل والحقائق والحيل ، لا تصح له معرفة من لم يزل .
١٥ - سبحان من حجبهم بالاسم ، والرسم ، والوسم ، حجبهم ، بالقال والحال والكمال ، والجمال . عن الذي لم يزل ولا يزال . القلب مضغة جوفانية . فالمعرفة لا تستقر فيها لأنها ربائية .
١٦ - الفهم طول وعرض ، والمطالعات سنن وفرض ، والخلق كلهم في السماء والأرض .
١٧ - وليس للمعرفة طول ولا عرض ، ولا تسكن في السماء ولا الأرض ولا تستقر في الظواهر والبواطن مثل السنن والفرض .
١٨ - ومن قال : عرفته بالحقيقة ، فقد جعل وجوده أعظم من وجود المعروف لأن من عرف شيئا على الحقيقة فقد صار أقوى من معروفه حين عرفه .
١٩ - يا هذا ، ما في الكون أقل من الذرة وأنت لا تدركها . فمن لا يعرف الذرة كيف يعرف ما هو أدق منها بتحقيق ؟ فالعارف « من رأى » والمعرفة « بمن بقي » فالمعرفة ثابتة من جهة النقص وفيها شيء مخصوص ؛ مثل دائرة العين المشقوق .
٢٠ - ومن جانب المتلاشي والمسدود من جانب العلم الذاتي ، عينها غائبة في ميمها بالهيولية ، ميمها منقطعة منفصلة الخواطر عنها ؛ لاهية ، شاهية راغبها راهبها ، راهبها غاربها ، شارقها غارب غاربها شارق ، مالها فوق عال ، ولا لها تحت دان .
٢١ - المعرفة مع المكونات بائنة ، مع الديمومة دائمة ، طرقها مسدودة ما إليها سبيل ، معانيها مبينة ما عليها دليل . لا تدركها الحواس ولا يلحقها أوصاف الناس .
٢٢ - صاحبها واحد ، مارسها لاحد ، وارقها رامد ، واقعها راقد ، لاصقها فاقد ، بارقها ماكد ، تارقها شاكد ، مارقها لاقد ، صارعها حامد ، خائفها زاهد ، لا يمدها راصد ، أطنانها أربابها أسبابها .
٢٣ - كأنها كأنها كأنها . كأنه كأنه كأنه ، كأنها كأنها ، كأنه كأنه ، كأنه كأنها كأنه كأنه ، كأنها كأنها ، بنيانها أركانها أزكانها ببنائها ، أصحابنا أصحابها بهاء لها بهاء لا هي هو ، ولا هو هي . ولا هو إلا هي . ولا هي إلا هو ، لا هي إلا هو ولا هو إلا هو .
٢٤ - فالعارف « من رأى » والمعرفة « بمن بقى » : « كذا » العارف مع عرفانه لأنه عرفانه وعرفانه هو ، والمعرفة وراء ذلك والمعروف وراء ذلك .
٢٥ - بقية القصة مع القصاص ، والمعرفة مع الخواص ، والكلفة مع الأشخاص ، والنطق مع أهل الوسواس ، والفكرة مع أهل الإياس والغفلة مع أهل الاستيحاش .
٢٦ - والحق حق والخلق خلق ولا بأس .
Source Colophon
Arabic source text from the Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya edition of al-Hallaj's collected works, edited by Abū 'Abd al-Rahmān bin 'Aqīla al-Makkī (Beirut). Digitised and made available via the Internet Archive as djvu OCR text. The source text above has been lightly normalised from the OCR output: garbled numerals standardised to Arabic-Indic, consistent ق/ف OCR misreadings restored (المعرقة → المعرفة), and page-number artifacts removed. The semantic content is unchanged. Reference editions: Massignon, Kitāb al-Tawāsīn (Paris, 1913); Nwyia, ed. (Beirut, 1972).
🌲