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 Sami Bayrakcı
Classical Sufi thinkers argued that true human bondage is not external but internal—rooted in the soul's passions, habits, and attachments to everything other than God. This article examines the liberating process of fanā’ (annihilation of the ego), baqā’ (subsistence in divine will), and riḍā (contentment), which together lead to genuine tawḥīd (divine unity) and the highest state of servanthood. Drawing on primary works of al-Muḥāsibī, al-Sarrāj, al-Kalābādhī, al-Makkī, al-Qushayrī, al-Hujwīrī, al-Ghazālī, and al-Suhrawardī, the analysis fills a gap in scholarship by addressing this triad through the axis of freedom and tawḥīd based on classical sources.