Al-Ahzaab (The Clans)

72. “Verily We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid thereof; and man undertook it, verily he is unjust, ignorant.”

Man is superior to the heavens and the earth. He is trusty with Allah in the world of existence.

This noble verse completes the important issues which are referred to in this Surah concerning: faith, righteous deed, Holy war, donation, modesty, discipline, and ethics. It shows that man has such a very worthy position that can be the bearer of the Divine messengership.

So, if he becomes ignorant to his own values he will be unjust to himself and, consequently, he will fall into the lowest point.

At first, the holy verse refers to the greatest and the most important privilege of man over the whole world of creation, where it says:

“Verily We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains…”

But these significant great and huge beings of the world of creation refused to bear this trust and announced that they were unable and were afraid to bear it.

The verse continues saying:

“…but they refused to bear it, and were afraid thereof…”

It is evident that their refusal was not because of arrogance, as we recite about the refusal of Satan in the prostration for Adam:

“…he refused and was full of pride…”1

but their refusal was derived from fear accompanied with humility and veneration.

But, in this circumstance, man, this wonder of the world of creation, came forth and undertook the trust:

“…and man undertook it…”

Alas! From the beginning he was unjust to himself, and he did not recognize his value and did not perform what was eligible for bearing that trust:

“…verily he is unjust, ignorant.”

The great commentators of Islam have discussed a lot about this verse, and tried very much to make the fact of ‘trust’ manifest. They have delivered different views the best of which, based on the content of the verse, have been chosen as follows:

Fundamentally, there are five points in this expressive verse on which we must emphasize:

1- What is the purpose of ‘trust’, the divine trust?

2- What does ‘We offered unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains’ mean?

3- Why and how did these great things refuse to bear this ‘trust’?

4- How did man bear this ‘trust’?

5- Why and how was he ‘unjust’ and ‘ignorant’?

Concerning ‘the trust’ there have been mentioned different commentaries.

Among them are: ‘The purpose of ‘trust’ here is the ‘Divine love (wilayah)’ and the perfection of the attribute of worship which can be required by the way of knowledge and righteous deed.

1- The objective meaning is the attribute of authority and free will which causes man to be privileged from other living creatures.

2- The objective meaning is ‘man’s wisdom’ which is the common basis of duty and criterion for reward and punishment.

3- The objective meaning is the limbs of man’s body. The eye is a ‘trust’ of Allah which must not be applied in the path of sin. The ear, the hands and feet, and the tongue are some other trusts which are obligatory to be protected not to commit sins thereby.

4- The objective meaning is the deposits that people take from each other, as well as fulfilling the promise.

5- The objective meaning is ‘gnosis of Allah’.

6- The objective meaning is obligations and Divine duties such as: prayer, fasting, and Hajj.

But with a little care, it makes the fact clear that these different commentaries are not contradictory with each other, and some of them can be contracted into some others. Some of them refer to a small part of the subject, while some others encompass the whole matter.

In order to find an inclusive answer, we must look at ‘man’ and see what does he have that the heavens, the earth, and the mountains have not it?

Man is a being that has an extraordinary talent by which he can be the complete extension of Allah’s viceroy. By earning knowledge, purification of the carnal soul, and accomplishments he can obtain the climax of honour and go high above the angels.

This talent is accompanied with free will and authority; that is, he has begun this way from the beginning and paved it by himself and with his authority towards infinity.

The heavens, the earth and the mountains have also a kind of gnosis of Allah that they are busy mentioning the remembrance and glorification of Allah (s.w.t.) and they are humble and do prostrate before His greatness, but all of these acts are innate, genetic, and compelling. That is why there is not a development in them.

The only being whose both ascension and descent are unlimited, and that can climb towards the top of perfection and do all of these things by his will and authority, is man. And this is that very trust of Allah that all beings refused to bear it, but man came forth and undertook it alone.

So, we see that the next verse has divided men into three groups: believers, disbelievers, and hypocrites.

Therefore, it must be said in a short sentence: the Divine trust is that very potentiality of infinite perfection accompanied with will and authority so that he may reach to the rank of a perfect and sincere servant of Allah by means of accepting the love (wilayat) of Allah.

Why has this issue been rendered into ‘trust’ while our existence and all what we have are the ‘trust’ of Allah?

This matter is for the importance of this great privilege of man; else other merits are also the deposits of Allah that, in comparison with it, have a less importance.

Here, this trust can be referred to with another sense and said that ‘the Divine trust’ is engagement and undertaking responsibility.

In other words, this holy verse states some facts about man that man’s intellect has not found them yet. But that which is understood from the apparent of the verse is that Allah has bestowed some particular specialties and privileges on man that none of the beings in the heavens and the earth has them.

These privileges are the trusts of Allah which bring forth some responsibilities for man. But many of human beings have been treacherous in this trust and have applied it in a path opposite to the command of Allah.

The intellect and the man’s will, which must be used alongside the path of knowing the truth and choosing it so that it can be the cause of his development and perfection, has been applied in some false ways, and it has resulted to the expansion of injustice and cruelty so far that the man’s behaviour has been counted as an ‘ignorant’ action.

Some Islamic narrations cited by the Ahlul Bayt (as) have rendered this trust as the acceptance of the love (wilayat) of Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) and his progeny.

It is for the sake that the love of prophets and the Imams is a strong ray of that general love (wilayat) of Allah, and reaching the rank of worshipping servitude and paving the path of development is not possible save by accepting the love of the friends of Allah.

When Ali-ibn-Mus-ar-Rida (as) was asked about the commentary of the offering the trust mentioned in this verse, he said:

“The trust is the mastership (Wilayah). Whoever claims it without truth has disbelieved (and has gone out from the realm of the Muslims).”2

In another tradition we read that when Imam Sadiq (as) was asked about the commentary of this verse, he said:

“The trust is the mastership, and the man (who has been qualified as ‘unjust’ and ‘ignorant’) is the possessor of a great deal of sins and is a hypocrite…”3

Another tradition indicates that when the time of prayer approached, the body of Hadrat Ali (as) began trembling, and he said:

“It is the time of prayer. Prayer is the trust of Allah which the heavens and the mountains refused to bear.”4

Addressing Ahlul Bayt (as), we recite in Jami‘ah-yi-Kabirah, the supplication:

“You are the protected trust!”

Ibn-Shahr’ashub, and Muhammad-ibn-Ya‘qub Kulayni have narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) who said:

“The purpose of ‘trust’ is the love (wilayat) of Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as).”5

Ali-ibn-’Ibrahim from Qum writes in his

“Trust is Imamate and enjoinment and prohibition.

The evidence upon the fact that it is Imamate is the word of Allah, the Glorious, the Almighty, to the Imams (as) where the Qur’an says:

‘Verily Allah commands you restore deposits to their owners…’¹

Thus, the trust is Imamate which Allah offered unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains and they refused to bear it so that they would claim or usurp it from its owner and they were afraid to do so, then man bore it…”

Muhammad-ibn-Hassan Saffar in his book entitled Basa’ir-ud-Darajat narrates from Imam Baqir (as) who about this verse said:

“The trust is mastership (wilayah)…”

Upon the rank of Ali (as) Ibn-i-Shahr’ashub, narrating from Abibakr Shirazi, cited in the book entitled Nuzul-i-Qur’an, narrated from Muhammad Hanafiyyah from Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) who in a detailed tradition said that the purpose of ‘the trust’ is mastership (wilayah).

There are also some other narrations in all of which ‘the trust’ has been rendered as the mastership (Wilayah) of Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as). You may refer to the commentaries of Burhan, Nur-uth-Thaqalayn, As-Safi, Majma‘ul-Bayan, and other books of tradition.

Upon the acceptance of the Divine trust, it must be said that this acceptance has not been a ceremonial and conventional acceptance, but it is a genetic acceptance according to the level of talent.

The only question that remains here is about man’s being unjust and ignorant.

Is ‘man’ being qualified by these two attributes, which apparently are as his reprimand and reproach, for his accepting this trust? Certainly the answer of this question is negative, since the acceptance of this trust is the greatest honour and privilege of man.

How is it possible that for the sake of the acceptance of such an important and high position he would be blamed? Or these qualifications are for the forgetfulness of most men and that they are unjust to themselves because of the lack of awareness of man’s rank, the very thing that began in Adam’s generation by Cain and his followers, and has also been continuing until now.

The man whom is called from the top of ‘Arsh, the progeny of Adam on whose head was put on the crown of Allah’s honour:

“…We have honoured the children of Adam…”7

the men who are the vicegerents of Allah on the earth:

“…Verily I am appointing on the earth a deputy’…”8 ;

the man who was the ‘angels’ teacher and was made prostrated by the angels of the heaven. How much must he be ‘unjust’ and ‘ignorant’ that he forsakes these great splendid values and, making him captive of this world, stands in the row of Satans and falls into the lowest point of Hell?

Yes, accepting this deviated line, that unfortunately has had many followers since the beginning, is the best reason that man is unjust and ignorant. However, we must confess that this man, who is apparently very little, is one of the wonders of the world of creation, who has been able to carry the burden of the trust that the heavens and the earth were unable to bear, if he does not forget his rank.