Critical Discourse Analysis of Hallaj’s Writings Based on Laclau and Mouffe Discourse Pattern

Given the difference between doctrine-based and sharia-based discourses at the time of Hallaj, the present study seeks to adopt a descriptive-analytical approach for critical discourse analysis of Persian and Arabic writings of Hallaj based on the model of Laclau and Mouffe. The main objective of this study is to introduce the discourse of Hallaj as the representative of a discourse arisen from social stratum of mystics. The purpose is to unravel the discourses underlying the writings of Hallaj as well as the signifiers that such discourses struggle over their definition. Results suggest that unlike the Sharia-based discourse of that time, the doctrine-based discourse of Hallaj intended to attribute a different set of the signified to the non-fixed signifiers of "man" and "devil", as a way of deconstructing their domination and subsequently the entire discourse. To demonstrate the unity of man with God, Hallaj used the famous phrase, "Ana al-Haq" that deconstructed the central sharia-based discourse and its semantic system. This signified substituted the "Ana al-Abd" concept characterizing the discourse of dogmatists. Through deconstructing the laws of Islam and unraveling divine secrets, he marginalized the sharia-based discourse at the expense of glorifying and foregrounding his own discourse.