Evolution of Sufi Poetry in Arabic Literature from Birth to Abulhassan Shoshtari

Sufi poetry is a combination of Platonic lyric and intoxicating poetry in an ironical and mysterious language, that while it looks like a lyric and intoxicating in form, it is filled with divine love in content which is a poetry full of expressions and specific sufi mysteries, expressions that depict the human moods and his relation with God in various stages of mystical journey. This type of poetry began from second AH in Arabic literature and came to its acme in seventh AH with Ibn Farez and Mohyeddin Ibn Arabi, and by means of Shoshtari, the great sufi in Andelos, it went into a remarkable evolution because he expressed his mystical beliefs in the form of vernacular language intelligible for the public so that the poetry was composed not only for sufis but also for every people. This paper first takes a glimpse at the evolution of sufi poetry in different eras and quotes from great sufis and then deals with the poetries of great sufis of the seventh AH, Abulhassan Shoshtari, and the innovation and his role in conveyance of mystical connotations in a new form and candid language and away from secret language and mystical language.