“Tawakkul (reliance), taslim (surrender), tafwiz (commitment), and thiqa (confidence) are the four steps or stations of a spiritual journey that begins with reliance on or trust in God, continuing in full awareness of one’s helplessness and destitution before God, and ending in entrusting all of one’s affairs to God Almighty in order to attain absolute peace and tranquillity of heart.”¹⁾

“… reliance signifies reliance on and confidence in God. Surrender is the state of those who have been awakened to spiritual life. Commitment, meaning that travelers are not detained by considerations of means and causes, is a station special to those of high spiritual achievement.”²⁾

“Commitment and confidence are the highest degrees of reliance on God. Those who have attained these degrees have entirely submitted their reason, logic, and belief, as well as their outer and inner feelings, to God’s commandments. As a result, they have become ‘polished mirrors’ in which His Names, Attributes, and acts are reflected. Signs of these degrees are under-standing that taking precautions is included in God’s preordainment, and thereby finding peace; seeing their willpower as a dim shadow of the Divine Will, and turning to that Divine Will; and being pleased with God's treatment, whether it be favorable or not, and agreeing with whatever happens to them.”³⁾

“One who is conscious of the Divine origin of the gifts may express resignation with such words as ‘Your favor is welcome, and so is Your resentment.’ One acts in peace and contentment and tries to attain confidence in the valleys of reliance, surrender and commitment. Negligence of what is necessary for a traveler to do in order to hunt these gifts that come from the Truth-for example, neglecting to do what falls to the free will in order to obtain a desired result-is a fault on the part of the saintly ones, who have reached the ranks of perfect godliness and nearness to God. Since this means that the heart has lost some degrees in its relation with God, the Truth, the traveler is punished according to his or her rank. Those who have risen to a certain rank are expected to use all their time in the most profitable way possible, and to try to strengthen their relation with the Almighty and multiply their rewards. It is because of this that a Sufi is called ‘a child of time.’” ⁴⁾

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