(alāmāt-i tawāḍuʿ; ʿalāmat-i tawāḍuʿ; khayru'l-khayr; nafy al-ʿizz; tawāḍuʿ al-ʿāmmī; tawāḍuʿ al-khāṣṣī; zaʿa)
Whoever removes and treats the negativity of fame from his nafs (the lower self), and Allah grants him success in this, attains its negation. The love of Allah, the love of iman (faith), the path of uprightness, and the ranks of the righteous become easily accessible. Attaining sincerity in action becomes easier. The nafs finds contentment by turning towards tawāḍuʿ (humility) and tadhallul (self-abasement). The path of justice becomes pleasing to him. For a person who possesses a sense of superiority, he cannot wish for others what he wishes for himself, cannot control his anger, nor accept the truth and its superiority. He cannot attain tawāḍuʿ, which is the honor and adornment of taqwa (God-consciousness). Such a person cannot abandon envy, cannot give up rancor, cannot overcome anger, nor eliminate the sense of superiority in these. He cannot abandon fanaticism, nor is he able to give up tribalism, nor eliminate the sense of superiority in these. He cannot attain the soundness of qalb (the heart) and its superiority. He cannot attain sincerity and its superiority. He cannot escape from despising people and the superiority therein. (Ādāb, 109)
The best of good, in which there is no evil, is tawāḍuʿ. Tawāḍuʿ is for a person to see himself as lower than others... The sign of tawāḍuʿ is that when someone invites you to the truth, you accept it, do not reject it, and do not see yourself above any Muslim. (Ādāb, 147)
I asked him: Explain what the person who said the following meant: Tawāḍuʿ is this: When you leave your house, you see everyone you meet as superior to yourself. So, if a person only fulfills the conditions of tawāḍuʿ by enduring the displeasures that arise from his nafs, and claims this and says it with his tongue, is he truly humble?
(In response) he said: If these conditions are among the obligatory rights, he only accepts them with displeasure from his nafs (accepting them is burdensome to his nafs). In this state, such a person does not reach the rank of the truthful. If the mentioned conditions are not among the obligatory rights, but rather relate to matters whose abandonment does not expel one from the religion, and accepting them is pleasing to the person, then this is the path and method of those who are truly humble. (Ādāb, 172)
Among other etiquettes and various ḥāl (spiritual states) of the Sufis... are abandoning superiority and greatness, not considering rank and position, treating people with compassion, and being humble towards everyone, great or small... (Lumaʿ, 29)
When Junayd was asked what tawāḍuʿ is, he said: To lower the wings of compassion over people and to treat them gently.
Ruwaim said: Tawāḍuʿ is the submission of the qalb (the heart) before Allah, who knows the unseen. Sahl (al-Tustarī) said: The perfection of dhikr (remembrance of God) is in witnessing, and the perfection of tawāḍuʿ is to be content with Allah (riḍā).
Another said: Tawāḍuʿ is to accept the truth for the sake of the Truth from the Truth. Another said: Tawāḍuʿ is to take pride in little, to embrace humiliation, and to bear the burdens of people. (Taʿarruf, 68)
Khuṣūʿ (humble submission) is to bow to the Truth, while tawāḍuʿ is to submit to the Truth, to be content with His decree, and to abandon objection... (Qushayrī, 74)
When Fudayl was asked, What is tawāḍuʿ? he replied: To bow to the truth and accept it, no matter who says it. (Qushayrī, 75)
Know that arrogance is a thought that comes to the qalb regarding exalting the nafs. To see oneself as great and to act arrogantly follow from this. To see oneself as low is a thought that arises in the qalb regarding lowering the nafs. To despise the nafs and tawāḍuʿ follow from this.
Both arrogance and tawāḍuʿ are divided into general and specific types. General tawāḍuʿ is to be content with the minimum in clothing, housing, and means of transport. Its opposite is arrogance, which is to see oneself as superior. Specific tawāḍuʿ is to train the nafs to accept the truth, whether it comes from someone of low or high status.
Its opposite is arrogance, which is to refuse to accept the truth. This is a grave sin and a great error.
As for general tawāḍuʿ, it is to remember your beginning and end, and the afflictions and impurities you are currently in. (Minhāj, 36)
Tawāḍuʿ is that among the people you meet, there is no one whom you see as inferior to yourself, and you think, Perhaps with Allah, he is better than me and his rank is higher.
When (the humble person) sees someone younger than himself, he thinks: I have disobeyed Allah, but this one has not yet disobeyed Him. Surely, he is better than me.
When he meets someone older, he thinks: This person is a servant whom Allah created before me.
If the person he meets is a scholar, he says to himself: This person has been given what I have not attained and has reached what I have not reached. He knows what I do not know and acts upon his knowledge.
If the person he meets is ignorant, he says: If he disobeys Allah, he does so out of ignorance, but I disobey knowingly. Moreover, just as I do not know what his final state will be, I do not know what my own final state will be (whether I will depart with iman or not).
If the person he meets is a disbeliever, he thinks: I do not know whether he will attain iman and good deeds at the end of his life, nor whether I will die a disbeliever with evil deeds. This is the gate of compassion and awe. This is the first gate to accompany the servants and the last to remain over them. (Ghunyal, II, 189)
When Junayd was asked what tawāḍuʿ is, he said: To lower the wings of compassion over people and to treat them gently.
When Fudayl was asked, What is tawāḍuʿ? he replied: To bow to the truth and accept it, regardless of who says it or from whom it is heard. He also said: Whoever sees any worth in himself has no share of tawāḍuʿ.
Dhū'l-Nūn said: There are three signs of tawāḍuʿ: To know your faults and see your nafs as small, to show respect to people out of reverence for tawhid (the oneness of God), and to accept the truth and nasīḥa (advice) from whoever it comes.
Tawāḍuʿ is to adhere to moderation between arrogance and zaʿa (abasement). Thus, arrogance is to elevate oneself above one's true station, while abasement is to lower oneself to a state that leads to blame and loss of rights. From many of the indications of the shaykhs regarding the explanation of tawāḍuʿ, it is understood that they have sometimes equated tawāḍuʿ with abasement, and in this, carnal feelings are mixed, descending from the peak of ifrāṭ (excess) to the depth of tafrīṭ (deficiency). This indicates a deviation from moderation. The intention of the shaykhs in this is to exaggerate in breaking the nafs out of fear that their murīds (disciples) may fall into ʿujb (self-admiration) and arrogance.
Tawāḍuʿ is the servant's submission to the power of the Truth. Its first subtlety is that the transmitted does not contradict the rational (that reason does not conflict with transmission), and not to hold a view that leads to disagreement. The second is to be content with the Muslim whom the Truth is content with. Not to reject the truth from whomever it comes and to accept excuses. The third is to lose oneself in the path of the Truth, distancing oneself from seeing one's own service and state during periods of fatra (interruption of spiritual witnessing). (Rawḍa, 484)
Khuṣūʿ and tawāḍuʿ are synonymous in the dictionary. In the terminology of the people of ḥaqīqa (inner reality), khuṣūʿ is to bow to the Truth. It is said: Khuṣūʿ is a constant fear in the qalb. It is also said: Khuṣūʿ is for the qalb to stand wholly in the presence of the Truth.
It is also said: It is a state of self-loss that comes to the qalb at the moment of witnessing the Lord.
It is also said: It is the qalb's humble submission out of etiquette due to witnessing the Truth.
Khuṣūʿ is the defense of the qalb at the moment of the power of the Truth and its withdrawal before the (divine) attributes of wrath. Khuṣūʿ precedes the dominance of hayba (awe). The possessor of khuṣūʿ is one whose fire of desire is extinguished, the flame of pleasure in his chest is calmed, his qalb radiates lights of reverence, thus his shahwa (carnal desire) dies but his qalb is revived, and for this reason, his limbs are in khuṣūʿ. The sign of khuṣūʿ in a person is that when angered, opposed in desire, or faced with rejection, he meets these states with acceptance. Some Sufis agree that the locus of khuṣūʿ is the qalb. (Jāmiʿ, 213)
Regarding tawāḍuʿ, the master Abū'l-Qāsim Junayd said: To lower the wings of compassion over people and to treat them gently; Ibn ʿAṭāʾ said: To accept the truth from whomever it comes; Abū ʿAbdullah Rāzī said: Tawāḍuʿ is to abandon seeking prominence during service.
When Abū Yazīd (al-Bisṭāmī) was asked, When does a servant become humble? he replied: When he sees no station or ḥāl (spiritual state) in himself, and finds no one among the people more wicked than himself.
Mālik Dīnār said: If it were said, Let the most wicked among those in the mosque come out, no one would surpass me in this. (Nabhānī, II, 91)