Selections from the aesthetics of ascetic prose in the Islamic era: Early Islam and the Umayyads

Abstract

The ascetic literature in the early Islam and the Umayyad era represents a previous stage of Sufi literature, which recognizes that its language goes beyond direct connotations and includes meaningful signs and symbols. This is what the Sufi literary experience has in common with the good artistic experience that moves away from direct meaning and make use of hints, hedges and images. The literature of asceticism in the period in question has been linked to the function of thinning, so it has been said, “Asceticism and softening,”. Hearts and souls cannot be softened and/or elevated except via the effect of this literature in a way or another in its time or after. This article tackles to uncover the aesthetics in the prose of the ascetics of this period, whose techniques were diverse, and consequently the forms and methods of its influence varied. The research also seeks to confirm that the expression of religious value is inseparable in many models for a clear aesthetic value.