Examining the Ethical Values of Contentment (Riḍā), Trust (Tawakkul), and Entrustment (Tafwīḍ) from the Mystical Perspective of Imam Khomeini

Abstract

This applied study examines the ethical values of contentment (riḍā), trust (tawakkul), and entrustment (tafwīḍ) from the mystical perspective of Imam Khomeini. Understanding and realizing mystical stations are contingent upon understanding and realizing the theoretical foundations of mysticism, an issue that has received attention in the major works of mystics who explicate the school of Ibn ʿArabī. Imam Khomeini, as a contemporary mystic and commentator of this school, likewise employs certain ontological and anthropological theoretical foundations in explicating mystical stations. This research adopts a descriptive–analytical method and is conducted through library research, drawing on books and scholarly articles. First, the concepts of the stations of spiritual wayfaring were examined and studied in Imam Khomeini’s major works related to practical mysticism; subsequently, the position of these stations within mystical states and ranks was analyzed, and finally, their degrees were interpreted and justified. The findings indicate that mystical stations differ from one another in terms of depth and richness; moreover, the theoretical foundations of mysticism are interrelated and intertwined. An examination of the explanations provided by the great mystic Imam Khomeini regarding the stations of wayfaring demonstrates the influence and necessity of theoretical foundations for explicating mystical stations. It became clear that the realization of each station of wayfaring depends on a combination of several theoretical foundations, which themselves are interconnected and inseparable. In fact, both the rationale for the necessity of realizing a given station for the spiritual seeker and the explanation of how that station is realized are made possible on the basis of these very principles and theoretical foundations, as demonstrated in this article. From a broader perspective, the fact that stations of wayfaring can be explicated through theoretical mystical foundations, and that these foundations play an effective role in their realization, points to the existence of a linkage between practical mysticism and theoretical mysticism. Imam Khomeini, as a contemporary mystic and commentator, has paid close attention in his philosophical–mystical works to the interconnection and mutual influence between practical and theoretical mysticism, and has demonstrated this linkage throughout his mystical discussions of the stations of wayfaring.