Typology of the concept of identity - class in mystical biographies (Tabaqat Al- soufiye, Tazkirat Al-Awliya)

Mystical biography is a form of mystical writing that has organized narratives about mystical subjects from the narrative point of view with two propositional-explanatory and narrative aspects and from the discourse point of view by modeling and legitimizing mystical subjects. Of course, in spite of sharing in the literary genre or following the common narrative tradition, the construction of the narrative and discourse of the memoirs differs from the concept of identity-class according to the author-narrators' special perception. In this article, the authors-narrators of the two mystical collective biography, the classes of Ansari Sufism and the biography of Attar's saints, are defined and interpreted from the concept of identity-class and the epistemological and ideological underpinnings that organize them. The result shows that the author-narrator of the Sufi classes, following the tradition of collecting hadith and emphasizing the rigid reality in explaining the identity-class of the subjects of his representation, relied more on the pre-established elements of their identity, it has largely avoided explaining a lifestyle based on taste and consumption. In addition, in the continuity of the text, it devotes a considerable part of the textual space to the explanation of mystical concepts or prayers. In contrast to the author-narrator of Tazkereh al-Awliya, according to the tendency to romantic and reckless mysticism, attachment to madness is made with full openness, aspects of the elements that make up taste and consumption of subjects such as speech, nutrition, clothing, worship and rituals, represents relationships and assets.