Sufism is commonly considered the “mystical path” of Islam. Within Sufism, there is strong emphasis both on contemplation and action. One of the accounts of Mary from the Koran offers a text that seems to express something valuable about Sufism. In this text, Mary goes to a far-off place to give birth. While she is lamenting her condition, Allah instructs her to shake a palm tree so that ripe figs will fall to the ground for her.

Some have interpreted this passage to mean that not only must we pray, but we must be active as well. This idea is very much relevant to Sufism. Within Sufism, Mary is a model of the contemplative and active life. As George H. Tavard wrote in The Thousand Faces of the Virgin Mary, this passage is “an invitation to work actively rather than just wait for Allah to do something. Thus Miriam [which is Mary's name in the Koran] is a model of obedience and action in the service of Allah, no less than of faith, prayer and contemplation.” According to Tavard, in Mary, the Sufis find inspiration, because her life was a clear expression of both obedience and action.