Practical and Intellectual Mysticism or First and Second Mystical Traditions (Contemplation on the foundations of Islamic Sufism and Mysticism)

In seventh Hijra century, a fundamental transformation occurred in Islamic mysticism. Due to such transformation, the bases of mysticism were exposed to change to the extent that a new tradition of Islamic mysticism was formed and a new demarcation was made between various mystical schools and currents. For explaining this transformation and characteristics of the two mystical traditions of before and after seventh Hijra century, some contemporary researchers have divided Islamic mysticism into two parts: practical mysticism and intellectual mysticism. By analyzing and criticizing such division and explaining that this division has no academic and scientific value and it is not in accordance with the nature of Islamic mysticism, this article tries to propose a new model for analyzing the evolution of Islamic mysticism as well as characteristics and differences of the first and second traditions of mysticism.