FREEDOM OF MAN THROUGH FANĀ’, BAQĀ’, AND RIḌĀ: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON CLASSICAL SUFI SOURCES
Veredas do Direito Direito Ambiental e Desenvolvimento Sustentável May 28, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.18623/rvd.v23.6780 via OpenAlex
Summary
Classical Sufi thought redefines freedom not as absence of external constraint but as liberation from inner bondage to passions, habits, and attachments to anything other than God. The article analyzes a three-stage process: fanā’ (annihilation of the ego), baqā’ (reconstitution of will in alignment with divine will), and riḍā (permanent contentment). Completing this triad achieves genuine tawḥīd (divine unity) and the deepest freedom—liberation from both interior and exterior bonds. The analysis draws on primary Arabic works of eight classical Sufi authors.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | In classical Sufi thought, genuine freedom is achieved through the triad of fanā’, baqā’, and riḍā, which dissolves inner bondage and realizes true tawḥīd. |
Abstract
Although the question of freedom has been addressed in Islamic theology (kalām), jurisprudence (fiqh), and philosophy, in all these traditions freedom has remained fundamentally an external category. Classical Sufi thought approached this question from an entirely different perspective: for the Sufis, the primary bondage of the human being originates not in external constraints but in the domination of the soul’s passions, habits, and attachments to everything other than God (māsiwā). This article analyses the liberating process constituted by the triad of fanā’ (annihilation), baqā’ (subsistence), and riḍā (contentment) in classical Sufi thought, and examines how this process leads to genuine tawḥīd (divine unity) and the highest state of ‘ubūdiyya (servanthood). Fanā’ is the threshold at which inner bondage is dissolved; baqā’ is the reconstitution of the transformed will in alignment with the divine will; riḍā is the station that renders this alignment permanent. When all three are completed, genuine tawḥīd is realised, and the human being attains the deepest freedom — liberation from every bond, both interior (anfusī) and exterior (āfāqī). Drawing on the primary Arabic works of al-Muḥāsibī, al-Sarrāj, al-Kalābādhī, Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī, al-Qushayrī, al-Hujwīrī, al-Ghazālī, and al-Suhrawardī, this article addresses a gap in the existing literature: no independent study has yet analysed this triad through the axis of freedom and tawḥīd based on primary classical sources.