The Difference in Sufi Authors' Approach to Sama‘ in a Selection of Didactic Prose Treatises and hagiography books from the Fourth to the Eighth Century A.H.

Sufi didactic prose treatises are comprehensive treatises in which Sufis are taught the practices of Tasawuf. While the Biography Books were written in order to mention the status of Sufi sheikhs and reflect their superiority over their peers and disciples, Each of these two groups of books has taken different approaches to the common practices and rituals in Sufism, including Sama', which has been one of the most common and controversial practices in Tasawuf. The authors of didactic treatises have had relatively similar views and studies on Sama', meaning that there are almost no differences in their approach to Sama' or the differences are very small. In this category of works Sufis have given abstract definitions about Sama' and mentioned personal experiences of Sheikhs and disciples as well as emphasizing personal perceptions of listeners and their different categories and ranks. However in Biography books, Sama' has acquired a social aspect in which Sheikhs' power has been revealed to others by their extraordinary deeds. Moreover, Sufis in Biography books have mentioned variety of practices related to Sama' and narrated more freely about some practices which are in contrast with Sharia. However, authors in Biography books have had different perspectives on the same practices in comparison to each other.
Another difference between the Biography books and the didactic books on Sama' is the attention paid to holding occasional Sama' gatherings and justifying Sama' in a different way in comparison with didactic treatises. All of these differences have been examined under titles extracted from these two categories of works, which are: theoretical Sama'/practical Sama', practices in Sama' gatherings, involuntary Sama'/occasional Sama', and justification of Sama'.