Qaris of the Quran in the views of the mystics in the fifth to eighth centuries

A significant part of the poetic and prose texts of Persian literature is a mystical subject. Like other literature works, in mystical texts various social classes and professions have been expressed in a variety of ways and each writer and/or poet has presented a different visions on different social groups considering his/her personal style and/or affected by social and political atmosphere of the era (s)he was living in. Qaris of the Quran are one of these social classes. In the period from the fifth to the eighth centuries of the Hijra, which is the peak period of the mystical texts, the Qaris, due to the companionship and communication of mystics with this class, their intentions and function, have been discussed. The purpose of this article, which is carried out for the first time in descriptive-analytical way, is to explain the position of the Qaris in the four major eras of the growth and enhancement of mysticism, in which the Qaris is divided into two categories: positive and negative. Of course, there are other evidence that there were Qaris, who have not been judged. Therefore, such evidence has been evaluated as Neutral. The findings and results of the study, derived from the frequency statistics, indicate that that the more we approach from 5th to latter eras, the more negative characteristics of Qaris are emphasized in comparison to the earlier era, when their positive characteristics were more considered. Of course, apart from socio-political factors, the kind of gnostic look and poetry of the poet or writer has also been effective in determining the dignity of the Qaris.