The Analysis of Allegories of Mystical Thoughts in Nahjal- Balaghah and Attar Neyshabouri's Tazkirat al-Awliya

One of the most famous and authoritative sources of Islamic knowledge is the valuable collection of Nahj al-Balaghah, which contains gem-like and profound thoughts of Molay-e-Mottaqiyan Imam Ali (PBUH) on various topics. In Tazkerat al-Awliya by Attar, there are biographies of 97 mystics, discussing their opinions on various issues. In the present study, after a case study of several mystical issues in Nahj al-Balaghah and Tazkerat al-Awliya, and their comparison with Qur'an, hadith and the views of Islamic thinkers, the most important theoretical and practical harms of mystics were found to be depression, seclusion, avoidance of work and effort, targeting asceticism instead of using it as a tool, extremism of mystics, denial of reason and liberty by some of the mystics, apostasy in words of some ascetics, encouraging celibacy, and etc, that were been avoided in Nahj al-Balaghah because of logical and social views of Imam Ali in his lectures, letters and special sentences.