Stoic Resilience, Moral Autonomy, and The Dichotomy of Control Parallel Tawakkul, Sabr, and Ikhtiyar
el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam December 10, 2025 Michael Yurievich Kuznetsov
Epictetus's Stoic ethics of self-mastery and rational discipline were received, adapted, and Islamized by Muslim philosophers and theologians through the Graeco-Arabic translation movement. Core Stoic concepts—the dichotomy of control, the discipline of assent, and the inner citadel—find close equivalents in Islamic concepts of ikhtiyār (sphere of moral choice), tawakkul (trust in divine decree), ṣabr (patient perseverance), and riḍā bi’l-qaḍāʾ (contentment with God's ordainment). The study integrates historical-philosophical analysis with contemporary Islamic psychology, demonstrating how Epictetus's practical methods were integrated into Islamic moral psychology to enrich Qurʾānic-Sufi ethics of self-mastery and spiritual resilience.