Abridged from the four-volume The Passion of al- Hallaj, one of the major works of Western orientalism, this book explores the life and teaching of a famous tenth- century Sufi mystic and martyr, and in so doing describes not only his experience but also the whole milieu of early Islamic civilization. Louis Massignon (1883-1962), France's most celebrated Islamic specialist in this century and a leading Catholic intellectual, wrote of a man who was for him a personal inspiration.From reviews of the four-volume translation: Abridged from the four-volume The Passion of al- Hallaj, one of the major works of Western orientalism, this book explores the life and teaching of a famous tenth- century Sufi mystic and martyr, and in so doing describes not only his experience but also the whole milieu of early Islamic civilization. Louis Massignon (1883-1962), France's most celebrated Islamic specialist in this century and a leading Catholic intellectual, wrote of a man who was for him a personal inspiration.From reviews of the four-volume translation: