Al-Tawadu' — Rawzat

The Quranic Model — ‘Ibad al-Rahman

The Quran’s description of the “Servants of the Most Merciful” begins with tawadu’:

“And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth in humility (hawnan), and when the ignorant address them, they say ‘peace’.” (25:63)

Hawnan (in humility, gently, with ease): The word suggests not only internal humility but a quality of movement and presence. The person of tawadu’ does not assert themselves, does not demand recognition, does not draw attention to their status. They move through the world with a quality of ease and gentleness that is the physical expression of inner humility.

The response to the ignorant: When addressed harshly or ignorantly, the ‘ibad al-Rahman say salam (peace). They do not respond to disrespect with counter-disrespect. The tawadu’ that leads to this response: the person of genuine humility does not feel their dignity is threatened by the ignorance of others — they know their dignity is with Allah, not dependent on others’ recognition.

See also: Sabr Patience, Ikhlas Sincerity

The Opposite — Kibr and Iblis

The theological root of tawadu’ is the story of Iblis:

“And [mention] when We said to the angels: ‘Prostrate to Adam,’ and they prostrated, except for Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.” (2:34)

Iblis’s “refusing and being arrogant” is the primordial kibr. His explicit statement: “I am better than him — You created me from fire and created him from clay.” (7:12) — The structure of kibr: I am better (self-elevation), because of something I have and the other does not (comparative boasting).

The consequences: Iblis’s kibr led to:

Rejection of the divine command (disobedience flowing from pride)
Designation as the permanent enemy of humanity
His ultimate destruction

The Prophet (SAW): “No one who has even a grain of kibr in their heart will enter Paradise.” (Muslim) — The severity of the warning reflects the severity of kibr’s nature: it is the fundamental spiritual disorder, the root of all distance from the divine.

The connection to shirk: Kibr is the nafs’s assertion of its own supremacy — in effect, making the nafs into a rival to the divine’s authority. The arrogant person, in practice, treats their own judgment, status, or desire as supreme. This is the nafs’s form of shirk — the practical divinization of the self.

See also: Nafs The Soul, Shirk, Ghuluww

The Prophetic Model of Tawadu’

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the perfect exemplar of tawadu’ — despite being the most honored human being in creation. His specific practices:

In daily life:

He helped with household chores, mended his own sandals, milked his own goat
He would visit the sick, walk with the weak, and sit with the poor without impatience
He refused to have people stand for him as a form of honor — he disliked this practice intensely
He sat on the floor; when he received delegations, he joined them rather than positioning himself above them
He said “I am only a servant of Allah — I eat as a servant eats and sit as a servant sits.”

In greeting: He would greet children with salam — initiating the greeting with those considered lesser in status, which was a mark of tawadu’.

In knowledge: He said: “Do not over-praise me as the Christians over-praised the son of Maryam. I am only the servant of Allah.” — Even in the domain of his unique prophetic status, he actively restrained exaggeration and maintained the self-description of servitude.

The prophetic paradox of tawadu’: The Prophet was simultaneously the highest human being spiritually and the most humble in conduct. Islamic theology understands this not as contradiction but as the expression of deep truth: the soul that genuinely knows the divine is genuinely humble, because in the divine’s presence there is only one thing to be — a servant.

”Whoever Humbles Himself, Allah Raises”

The Prophet’s statement: “Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah (tawada’a lillah), Allah will raise him. He will consider himself small but in the eyes of people he will be great. Whoever is arrogant, Allah will humiliate him. He will consider himself great but in the eyes of people he will be small.” (Ahmad)

The logic of this elevation: The person of genuine tawadu’ does not need human recognition and therefore is free to serve sincerely — their service is not contaminated by the need for approval. This sincerity makes them genuinely great in service, which people perceive and respect. Paradoxically, the person who does not seek honor is honored; the person who demands it is resented.

The divine raising (raf’) of the humble: The raising is not only social but spiritual. The soul that is humble before the divine is in the correct orientation to receive the divine’s gifts — ‘ilm, mercy, guidance, barakah. The arrogant soul is oriented toward itself and cannot receive from beyond itself. Tawadu’ before the divine opens the soul; kibr closes it.

Tawadu’ in Relationships

Tawadu’ is not just an inner orientation but a quality in all relationships:

With scholars and the spiritually advanced: Tawadu’ toward those with more ‘ilm or spiritual standing — sitting with eagerness to learn rather than defending one’s own views; being willing to be corrected; not prioritizing one’s own status in the gathering.

With the less fortunate: Tawadu’ toward those with less material standing — not looking down on them, not making them feel their poverty as shame, giving them the full dignity of attention and respect.

With the young: The Prophet’s greeting of children with salam was a specific act of social tawadu’ — honoring those who had the least social standing.

With perceived adversaries: The ‘ibad al-Rahman’s response of salam to those who address them harshly is tawadu’ in its most active form — choosing not to assert one’s right to be treated well.

The limits of tawadu’: Tawadu’ is not self-abasement that enables injustice. The Prophet was humble but he was not a pushover — he defended the community, confronted oppression, and required respect for divine bounds. Tawadu’ is the absence of personal pride, not the acceptance of all treatment.

Tawadu’ and ‘Ilm

A specific dimension of tawadu’ in the Islamic tradition: the relationship between knowledge and humility.

The Quran: “And over every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.” (12:76) — Knowledge has no upper limit. The one who has ‘ilm always has more to learn; there is always someone (or Something) who knows more. This verse is the foundation of the scholar’s tawadu’: no matter how much one knows, there is more, and the divine knows it all.

The Prophet: “I am only a recipient — I receive and I convey. I do not know more than what Allah has taught me.”

The arrogance of the ‘alim (scholar) who uses their knowledge to assert superiority over others is a recognized spiritual disease in the Islamic tradition. The hadith: “Whoever seeks knowledge in order to dispute with scholars or to show off before fools — his will be a place in the Fire.” (Ibn Majah)

In the Ismaili tradition, the ‘ilm of the ta’wil is specifically the ‘ilm that produces tawadu’. When the soul truly understands its own position in the divine order — a finite being that has received finite guidance from an infinite source — the result is not spiritual pride but awe and gratitude. The ta’wil-equipped mumin who grasps the enormity of what they have received and how far they remain from its full realization is the mumin of genuine tawadu’.

The Stations of Tawadu’ — A Progression

Classical Islamic spirituality identified progressive stages of tawadu’:

Stage 1 — Tawadu’ as conduct: Not asserting oneself socially; not demanding recognition; sitting with those of lower status without discomfort.

Stage 2 — Tawadu’ as inner attitude: Not feeling superior to anyone. Not looking down internally even when not expressing it outwardly. The recognition that one’s own faults are visible to oneself but others’ faults may be less severe than they appear.

Stage 3 — Tawadu’ al-‘arif (the humble of the knower): The deep recognition that all one’s capacities — intellect, knowledge, achievement, virtue — are divine gifts, not personal achievements. At this stage, tawadu’ is not a practice but a natural consequence of clear seeing: the soul that genuinely sees where its gifts come from cannot be proud of them.

The highest tawadu’: Imam Ali (AS): “If you know what Allah sees in you, you would not want anyone to see you.” — The highest tawadu’ comes not from social comparison (I am less than X) but from the awareness of the divine’s sight: in the divine’s comprehensive view, the soul’s shortcomings are vivid; this awareness produces the genuine humility that social comparison cannot.

Ta’wil of Tawadu’

The zahir of tawadu’ is the observable character of humility — the gentle walk, the gracious response to harsh words, the sitting with the poor, the refusal to demand honor.

The batin of tawadu’ is the soul’s accurate understanding of its own position: a created being whose every faculty is a gift, whose knowledge is a fragment of the divine’s comprehensive knowledge, whose goodness is dependent on the divine’s tawfiq (enabling grace), and whose ultimate destiny is in the divine’s hands. The soul that genuinely understands this cannot be arrogant — not because arrogance would look bad but because it would be inaccurate.

In the Ismaili-Tayyibi ta’wil, tawadu’ before the Imam is the natural expression of genuine ma’rifa: the mumin who truly understands the Imam’s position (the mazhar of the Universal Intellect in the human world, the carrier of the ta’wil that the soul cannot access on its own) and their own position (a soul that needs this guidance and has received it as a divine gift) is naturally in a state of tawadu’ before the Imam. This tawadu’ is not servility but the accurate posture of the one who has recognized where their guidance comes from.

“And your Lord said: ‘Call upon Me — I will respond to you.’” (40:60) — The divine’s openness to the soul’s call is premised on the soul calling — reaching out in the tawadu’ of genuine need. The arrogant soul does not call; it manages. The humble soul calls because it genuinely knows it needs divine help.

Al-Tawadu' — The Virtue of Humility