Imam Khomeini explained that one of the things necessary for the sālik in all his worships, especially in theSalat, which is at the head of all worships and has a position of comprehensiveness [jāmi'iyyat], is submissiveness [khushū'].
It is, in fact, a complete submission [khudū'] mixed with love or fear. It is the result of comprehending the Greatness, Power and Majesty of Beauty and Glory. The detail of this generality is that the hearts of the people of sulūk are different according to their disposition and nature:
According to Imam, some of the hearts are amorous and of the manifestations of Beauty [jamāl] and, driven by their nature, they are attracted to the Beauty of the Beloved. When, in the sulūk, they comprehend the shadow of the Beautiful, or witness the origin of the Beauty, the Greatness hidden in the secret of the Beauty effaces them, and they go into rapture, for in every beauty there is a hidden glory, and in every glory there is a covered beauty.
There is probably an allusion to this point in his saying when the guardian of the gnostics and of the sāliks, Amīr al-Mu'minīn (Commander of the Faithful), may Allah bless him and all his offspring, says: “Glory be to the One whose compassion is vast for His friends despite His severe revenge, and whose revenge is severe for His enemies despite His vast compassion,”
Thus, the Majesty, Greatness and Power of Beauty envelop them and they fall into a state of submission [khushū'] before the Beauty of the Beloved. This state, at the beginning, causes agitation to the heart and engenders anxiety. Then, after submission [tamkīn], it changes to a state of familiarity, and the agitation and anxiety, caused by the Greatness and Power, turn into familiarity and peace, and there happens a state of tranquility, as was the state of the heart of khalīl ar-Rahmān (Allah's Friend = Ibrāhīm) ('a).
Some other hearts are “fearing” and they are of the manifestations of Glory [jalāl]. They are in continual understanding of the Greatness, Grandeur and Glory. Their submission is of fright, and the Subjugative and Majestic Names are manifested to their hearts, as was the state of Prophet Yahyā (may Allah's peace be upon him and our Prophet and his progeny). So, submission is sometimes mixed with love, and sometimes with fear and fright, though in every love there is fear, and in every fear there is love.
The degrees of submission are according to the degrees of understanding the Greatness, Majesty and Beauty. Now as we, in our case, are deprived of the light of visions, we have but to indulge in acquiring submission by means of knowledge and faith [īmān]. Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Successful, indeed, are the believers who are submissive in their Salats.
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