the reasons and motivations of sufis’ social participation based on persian mystical prose texts of fifth and sixth centuries

from its genesis, islamic mysticism has relied upon asceticism and withdrawal from the world and its inhabitants, and there are numerous words by the great figures of such manner in line with this. world-escaping and retiring from the people is one of the prevailing ideas in this intellectual school which has been fashioned based on the actions and claims of its followers. however, numerous evidence contradicting such belief are seen while investigating the prominent mystical texts and contemplating on the life of senior mystics. such evidence reveals clearly their social participation in various scenes of social life. this study sheds light on some corners of sufis’ words and actions in society based on persian mystical prose texts of fifth and sixth centuries. it is tried to analyze and investigate the grounds of their interaction with others including political, cultural, economic interactions and, more important than this, their motivations for doing such social activities since they are the result of different quranic, religious and other kinds of motivations. the results of this study show that quranic and religious motivations are the main and most important reasons of sufis’ interactions with others.