The Ultimate Trust Given By God

[The following is a transcript of a lecture by Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui, where he reflects on the Qur'anic recitation during the nights of Ramadan. It contains minor modifications from the spoken word for the purposes of readability.]

From Surat an-Nisaa [4:58], as Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala says:

إِنَّ اللّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن تُؤدُّواْ الأَمَانَاتِ إِلَى أَهْلِهَا
Verily God commands you to deliver the trusts to their owners.

[This is] anything we are entrusted with. First, and this is what usually comes to people’s minds, which is correct, is if someone entrusts us with a possession. We have to deliver and give that trust back in accordance to the mutual agreement between us. We do not deny that we have kept that trust. We do not deny that we have it. We do not steal it, and refuge is with Allah. We do not, when it is in our possession as a trust, neglect it. We do not ignore it. We do not misuse it. We do not abuse it. We should protect that trust and deliver the trust the way it was given to us.

We ourselves are a Trust from God

Secondly, the concept of trust also from this ayah however is even much more comprehensive. Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala has entrusted us with so much. We are a trust from God, from Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala! And we belong to Him. He is the Owner. The way we are, the way we shall use ourselves, the way we shall use our minds, our eyes, our ears, our hands, our tongues, our legs, our stomachs, our sexual organs – each one of those and more are trusts (amānāt) with us. Trusts that we ultimately have to deliver to whom? To their Owner. Who is their Owner? Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala. So while they are with us while we are living in this world, they are a trust. I must keep the trust, and I must give the trust back.

The Trust Returns at Death

That’s why when the ṣaliḥūn [righteous companions] describe somebody dying, or when he or she has died, they say, “And he delivered the trust to the Owner.” I remember when once I called home and my paternal uncle had died, raḥimahullah ta’ala. He died, it seems, a wonderful death of awareness of Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala. His son described to me that he lived a life of over a hundred years of age, a life of Qur’an and of teaching Qur’an to children and to others. And the night in which he died, he was sleeping. He woke up in the middle of the night, and he asked his son to help him perform wuḍu. He prayed ṣalat and qiyaam as much as he could and then he lay down. Then he called him and said, “I’m dying.” The son described to me how he was going through the process, and he said to me, “And Allah took his amānah.” And then Allah took his trust.

A trust. It’s a beautiful realization. Hopefully when we say it, we mean it and we’re aware of it. It’s a trust. We deliver the trust that was given to us by Allah subḥanahu wa ta’ala.

And may Allah send peace and prayers and blessings upon our Master Muḥammad and all his family.