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wa-lladhīna hum li-ʾamānātihim wa-ʿahdihim rāʿūna
and those who keep their trusts and covenants
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 8 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 8 of 118
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 8 of 118
The Believers
and those who keep their trusts and covenants
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verse 8
8. “And those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant, ”
Another outstanding attribute of the believers here is safeguarding their trusts, with the vast meaning of the word. This includes keeping their promises and pledges both towards the Creator and towards mankind. The broad concept of ‘trust’ covers the trusts of Allah and the prophets as well as that of people in general. Each one of Allah’s various blessings is one of His trusts. The religion of the Truth, the Heavenly Books, the teachings and practical instructions of the leaders of the Path of Truth, ones’ possessions, offspring, the responsibilities to which one has been assigned and the social positions we have been given are all His trusts which the believers endeavor to fulfil and give their due.
The believers guard these trusts while they are alive, and when they are close to departing this world, they entrust them to the future generations they have trained to maintain them. All material, spiritual, and political blessings are Divine trusts.58 The concept of ‘trust’ is general, here, and its evidence is the vastness and absoluteness of the word trust, in addition to the existence of numerous narrations that interpret the meaning of trust. Trust is sometimes interpreted as ‘the Imamate of the Infallible Imams’, which every Imam entrusts to the next Imam, and sometimes it is interpreted as their absolute guardianship and government.59
It is interesting that Zurarah, who was one of the greatest disciples of Imam Baqir (as) and Imam Sadiq (as), says that the purpose of the sentence:
‘...that you restore deposits to their owners...’ 60
is to restore guardianship and government to its due people, i.e. those entitled to it.61 This shows that government is an important deposit that must be restored to its true owners. The verse says:
“And those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant, ”
General meanigs for the concepts of covenant and promise can also be found in other verses of the Holy Qur’an, for example, one verse says:
“Fulfil you the covenant of Allah when you make covenant.” 62
Interestingly, in some verses of the Holy Qur’an we find that the phrases ‘restoration of deposits’and ‘respecting trusts’ include both safeguarding them and restoring them to their owners. Therefore, if the failure to protect something that is held in trust results in damaging it or placing it in danger, the trustee should make an effort to correct it. (So, there are three tasks to be done: restoration, protection, and correction.) At any rate, being faithful to one’s covenants, protecting them and restoring deposits to their owners are important foundations of the social system of human beings. Without them disorder would occur in the society.
This is why even individuals and nations that have no Divine and religious beliefs, bind themselves to fulfilling these obligations, at least, in society in order to protect it against the disorder that would result from breaches of trusts and covenants.
The Importance of Trust in Narrations
1) During the last moments of his life in this world, the holy Prophet (S) told Imam Ali (as):
“Restore the deposit to its depositor (its owner), whether he is righteous or a wrongdoer, and whether it is valuable or worthless, even if it is a thread, a cloth or a sewn garment.” 63
2) Imam Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) said:
“The supreme faith is trustworthiness, and the most indecent of morals is treachery.” 64
3) Imam Ali (as) said:
“Do not betray someone who has entrusted something to you, even though he has betrayed you. And do not make known his secrets, although he has revealed yours.” 65
4) The Prophet (S) said:
“If someone commits a breach of trust in the world and does not restore the deposit to the depositor and then he dies, he has died as one disbelieves in my religion, and he will find Allah angry with him.” 66
5) The Prophet (S) said:
“One who is negligent with his trusts and consequently damages the deposit is not one of us.” 67
6) Imam Ali (as) said:
“One who commits a breach of trust is not faithful.” 68
7) Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“Allah has appointed no prophet unless he is veracious and restores deposits to the good and the bad.” 69
Footnotes