Determining Adults' Perceptions of Tawakkul Through Metaphors: a Cross-Cultural Research

Abstract

As a fundamental concept of religious tradition and culture, tawakkul is an expression of deep faith and trust in Allah. In tawakkul, there is a powerful and effective Creator at the center of everything. It is accepted that He has control and authority over all beings. Therefore, the literature highlights the close relationship between tawakkul, faith, and tawhid. On the other hand, while it is accepted that Allah is the sole determinant in the act of tawakkul, this does not imply an attitude that excludes or postpones individual's efforts. There is a framework in which the individual assumes functional roles, engaging both mental and practical processes. Tawakkul provides a privileged area for strong positive emotions that enrich the individual's spiritual world. By fostering various emotional experiences, it serves as a protective factor, reducing negative internal experiences by providing an optimum level of well-being. Since it includes being content with Allah's distribution, decree and will, it also facilitates psycho-social adaptation. From this aspect tawakkul is seen as one of the factors that most strongly affects the individual's emotional and motivational dynamics. It makes a constructive and constructive contribution to the human-human and human-Allah relationship. Therefore, understanding the nature of the effect of tawakkul is very important for every age group. In the relevant literature, there are both theoretical and empirical studies on the concept of tawakkul; however, no study has been found that examines the concept of tawakkul through metaphors. Therefore, this study is expected to contribute to the gap in the literature and guide other studies on the topic. This main purpose of the research is to reveal the perceptions of adults regarding the concept of tawakkul through metaphors. The study group consists of a total of 237 participants aged 20-70, residing in different cities of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 116 (%49) of the participants in the study are female and 121 (%51) are male. The metaphor technique, grounded in the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. A semi-structured survey form was preferred as the data collection method. Data were collected through online and face-to-face surveys conducted via Google Form. The survey form used in the study has two parts. The first section contains a 4-item personal information form aimed at revealing the demographic characteristics of the participants. The second part includes a question prompting the adult participants to produce metaphors to reveal their perceptions of the concept of tawakkul. In the second part, the participants were asked the question, "If you were to compare tawakkul to an image, what would it be like?" and were asked to complete the gaps in the sentence, "Tawakkul is similar to....(metaphor), because....(metaphor reason)...". MAXQDA 24 program was used in the analysis of the obtained data and the content analysis technique was used. At the end of the research, it was found that 119 different metaphors were produced by 237 participants. Three themes were created based on the metaphors related to the concept of tawakkul: These themes are "religious dimension of tawakkul", "psychological dimension of tawakkul" and "relational dimension of tawakkul". Two codes were created for the theme of religious dimension of tawakkul (%38): Divine power and personal liability. The metaphors collected under this code emphasized Allah's guiding, controlling and determining position in all matters. In addition, passive behavior patterns were negated in the process of tawakkul; reference was made to variables such as perseverance, effort and determination that give an active role to the individual. Three codes were created for the theme of psychological dimension of tawakkul (%58.2). These codes are psychological relief, positive expectation and acceptance and adaptation. With these metaphors, it has been expressed that tawakkul helps reduce psychological tension, increases feelings of hope and optimism, and allows for healthy reflexes and reactions to unexpected negative developments. A single code called divine love and fear (%3,8) was created for the theme of the relational dimension of tawakkul. In these metaphors, tawakkul is considered an experience that reflects the balance between divine love and fear. In the study, it was determined that participants in both countries attributed a positive value to tawakkul, pointed out its cognitive and psychological background, and emphasized its constructive and dynamic aspect. It was found that the participants from both countries had a largely similar perception of tawakkul. However, it was also discovered that Bosnian participants developed unique metaphors related to the relational dimension of tawakkul.