Tawakkul(a.), verbal noun ormasdarof Form V ofwakalato entrust [to someone], have confidence [in someone], a concept in Islamic religious terminology, and especially that ofSufism, with the sense of dependence upon God.
Tor Andrae pointed out that the verbtawakkalameant to trust someone in the same way as I would trust my滄硃域勳梭, i.e., the person whom I have chosen to be my procurator orhomme daffaires, to look after my business and to govern and dispose on my behalf. Here he was drawing largely onal-Ghazalis etymological analysis of喧硃滄硃域域喝梭泭in his梆堯聆硃, Cairo 1352 AH / 1933 CE, iv, 223, where he states that it is derived fromwakala, power of attorney or deputyship, hence one says that one entrusts ones affairs (wakala) to someone, i.e., one relies on him. The one to whom one consigns ones affairs is called an agent or trustee (wakil). With respect to the one in whom one trusts, one says that one abandons oneself to ones agent. Thus one entrusts ones soul to him and depends firmly on him… Hencetawakkulexpresses the hearts confidence in the One Trustee (al-wakil al-wahid).
Author
Dr. Leonard Lewisohn
A respectedauthor, translator and lecturer in the area of Islamic studies and a specialist in Persian language and Sufi literature, the late Dr Lewisohn (1953 – 2018) was a Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Associate Member of the Centre for Iranian Studies also at SOAS. Dr Lewisohn’s works includeBeyond Faith and Fidelity: the Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mahmud Shabistari(London, 1993), a critical edition ofDivan-i Muhammad Shirin