It is different. The müfevviz (one who entrusts his affairs to God) is content with what is done by the one to whom he has entrusted his affairs. In meaning, both teslim (submission) and tefviz (delegation) are close to agency (vekâlet). However, the difference of this expression from agency is that in agency, there is a trace of the principal’s claim of ownership over the agent. Therefore, tefviz (delegation) and teslim (submission) remain outside the scope of agency. The fact that the mubhsinler (those who practice ihsan [spiritual excellence]) and other Sufis entrust all their affairs to the Real (God), means that the affairs Allah has created for them are referred back to the Real (that is, they are submitted and returned to Him). In this ḥāl (spiritual state), they are purified from any claim of ownership in every matter they have entrusted to the Real. This is precisely tefviz. The tefviz of the martyrs is their trusting in the Real in every state that befalls them. (Insān, II, 92)
Tefviz (delegation) and teslim (submission) are the abandonment of choice (ihtiyâr). Teslim is islām (submission to God) and istislām (surrender), that is, yielding. This is the manifestation of ʿubūdiyya (servitude). Tefviz is that the servant does not prefer any of the affairs of the dunyā (the world), leaves the right of preference in this matter to his Master (God), and does not make a preference contrary to His preference.
It has been said that tefviz occurs before the occurrence of qadāʾ (divine decree), and teslim after its occurrence. Teslim and tefviz are among the attributes of the people of maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God). Allah has praised the prophets with these attributes. (Jāmiʿ, 199)
The form of teslim and its state at the beginning (bidāya) is to submit to the legal rulings (sharʿī ahkām) without objection and without seeking their causes, that is, to submit through taḥallī (adornment with virtues) 1043. Its form in the abwāb (spiritual doors) is to submit to the forces of the sharia (sharīʿa), to obey as required without dispute or falling into displeasure.
Its basis in muʿāmalāt (transactions) is to submit to things that are accepted by reason and do not lead to delusions. These delusions are things that prevent one from constantly walking the paths of (spiritual) taste, from receiving a share of things that will save from (otherworldly) fears, and from following them.
The degree of teslim in ethics is to be patient in hesitation, to be willing to change what is fixed in the nafs (the lower self) in a way contrary to its nature with the help of īthār (altruism) when in greed, to try to establish justice and the middle way in the nafs, and to avoid ifrāṭ (excess) and tafrīṭ (deficiency) in every kind of akhlāq (ethics).
In the principles (uṣūl), teslim is to aim for unveiling (kashf) through the power of intimacy (uns). In the remedies (adwiya), teslim is to submit to himma (spiritual aspiration), baṣīra (spiritual insight), and ḥikma (wisdom) in order to turn to the Real. In the acts (afʿāl), teslim is to submit affairs to the Real in order to strengthen maḥabba (love) and intensify attraction (jadhba).
In walāya (sainthood), teslim is the submission of the form to the ḥaqīqa (inner reality), thus stripping away the attributes of created beings. In the realities (ḥaqāʾiq), teslim is to submit seeing with the eye to the one who sees with His Essence, and to submit life to the one who possesses life with His Essence. In the end (nihāya), teslim is to submit everything other than the Real to the Real, purified from seeing submission itself, and seeing only that one is submitted to Him.
(See also: tamāʿ (greed); tefviz-teslim; tawakkul (reliance upon God))