Surat al-Mu'minoon Ayah 8

And those who are watchful over their trusts and promises.

Stranger: Amaanaat -  trusts and 3ahd - promises (3=ain), these are things that will be lost in Akhir zaman. I feel they are very lost here in Yemen.

Dr: Yes, the loss of trust and promises is very damaging in our lives. It is very hard to achieve real progress in Yemen due to the extreme loss of these. Let's look at this ayah and compare it with the previous ayaat. If you notice in the previous ayaat of characteristics and practices of Mu'mineen, you will see that only one thing is mentioned in each ayah - prayer with khushoo, staying away from idleness, doing zakat, protecting oneself from zina, but in this ayah there are two things together - amaanaat and 3ahd. This is because these two are inseparable and are one and the same but slightly different which I will explain.

Stranger: First Amaanaat, plural for amanah.

Dr: There are two types of Amaanaat

1- trust over physical things of all types, from money to borrowed items and anything else put in our trust, like our children and even our health that ALlah has given us.

2- Trust over non-tangible objects like secrets and confidential information, the privacy of inside someone's house, oaths and promises.

Stranger: What about lying is that a break of trust?

Dr: If it is lying about something you have been  entrusted but generally lying is from laghoo that we covered before.

With keeping trusts and promises, these are not extras from following Sunnah these actions are ordered upon us by Allah The Most High as He said in His Book in Surat an-Nisa 58:

"Verily, Allah has ordered you to fulfill the trusts to those to which they are due, and that when you judge between men, you judge with justice. And Surely excellent is that with which Allah admonishes you. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeking." (an-Nisa 59)

When you borrow money, you return it exactly, the same amount and if someone gives you money to buy something for them, you buy what they asked for and give back the change, not buy something cheaper and then pocket the rest - that happens a lot here, especially when you are trying to maintain buildings!

If you borrow an item from someone you return it to them in exactly the same condition, not broken, and if broken you need to take responsibility by buying a new item or compensating the owner with what is reasonable.

Stranger: Like when you borrowed my friend's book.

Dr: Yes, I had a trust upon me when I borrowed the book and I was not careful in putting it somewhere safe and my son threw it at his sister and the cover ripped so I compensated the sister. Even the smallest trusts will be asked about on Qiyama we must take care and be watchful over all trusts big and small.

Allah says in Surat al-Ahzab 16:

 

"And truly they had already promised Allah that they would not turn their backs, And a promise with Allah will have to be answered for". (Al-Ahzab:15)

Allah is going to ask you about all your trusts and promises and you will be held accountable.

Stranger: What about promises?

Dr: When we promise or make an oath we need to follow through and keep our word. If we promise to do something we should do it and if we make oaths our speech must me truthful. We must keep these promises and oaths with other Muslims, disbelievers, between nations or individuals. Rasool Allah (Peace be Upon Him) make treaties and agreements with Jews and Quraish in his lifetime and he NEVER broke one word but it was the other parties who broke treaties and this is mentioned by Allah in Surat al-Anfal:56

"Those with whom you made a covenant; then they break their covenant every time, and they do not fear Allah". Al-Anfal:56

Stranger: What is meant by //raa3oon// the last word of the ayah in the form of "fa3il - the doer of the verb"?

Dr: Ra3ee is a shepherd, here ra3oon is the act of shepherding. Shepherding needs to be done vigilantly otherwise the flock will either be in danger or lost completely! If a shepherd falls asleep on the job he can lose it all!!! So Allah the Most Wise has used this term here to show us how vigilant we must be about our oaths and promises and trusts. Every watchful!