The Trust Offered to the Heavens

Qur'an 33:72 · Al-Aḥzāb

إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا ٱلْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا

(33:72) Indeed We presented the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to undertake it and were apprehensive of it; but man undertook it. Indeed he is most unjust and ignorant.

The question

What is the “trust” (amānah) that the heavens, the earth and the mountains refused and mankind took, and what does it mean that God “offered” it to them?

Views answered: exegetes on what the trust is, exegetes on what offering the trust means

Al-Mizan's argument

Al-Mizan reasons from the verse that follows: since bearing the trust divides people into hypocrites, polytheists and believers, it must concern the true religion. It rules out correct belief alone, acceptance of religion, and scrupulous practice, because the heavens and the earth already glorify God and every human being bears the trust, believer or not. What remains is the divine wilāyah: perfecting servitude by true belief and righteous deeds until God becomes the human being's guardian. The offering is a figure of speech for weighing the capacity of these creations, and man's being “unjust, foolish” is what makes him able to bear it. Al-Mizan then lists the exegetes' other views on the trust and on the offering, and leaves their weak points to be seen from what he has said.

Views compared

The other exegetes' readings are given as al-Mizan reports them. Each point links to the passage in the commentary.

The trust as belief in God's oneness Read →

Other exegetes

The trust is the phrase there is no god but Allah (lā ilāha illā Allāh).

Al-Mizan

It cannot be correct belief in God's oneness, because the heavens, the earth and all creation already declare His oneness and glorify Him (), while the verse says they refused the trust.

He was unjust, foolish Read →

Other exegetes

Some might ask why a wise God would lay on this weak, unjust and foolish creature a burden that the heavens, the earth and the mountains refused, knowing he could not bear it.

Al-Mizan

Injustice and ignorance are what allow the human being to bear the trust: a being that can be called unjust can also be called just, and one that can be called ignorant can also be called learned, which cannot be said of the mountains, the heavens or the earth.

The trust as religious duties Read →

Other exegetes

The trust is the religious duties, whose performance leads to Paradise and whose omission leads to the Fire; offering it means testing whether these creations were ready for it, and the verses are figurative.

Al-Mizan

Performing religious duties is a prerequisite of embracing the divine wilāyah and perfecting servitude to God, so the end goal is the wilāyah, not the prerequisites in themselves.

The trust as knowledge of God Read →

Other exegetes

The trust is knowledge of God and all that it entails.

Al-Mizan

This is the closest to the true meaning, and comes near to what he has said.

The intellect, the bodily organs, deposits and promises Read →

Other exegetes

The trust is the intellect, on which religious duties rest; or the bodily organs God has entrusted to a person; or the trusts people deposit with one another, and keeping promises.

Al-Mizan

Looking back at what he has already said about these verses will reveal the weak points in each of these views.

We offered the trust Read →

Other exegetes

Some take the offering literally: God offered the trust to the inhabitants of the heavens, such as the angels, or gave the heavens, the earth and the mountains understanding and set the obligation before them, and they declined it. Others take ʿaraḍnā to mean that the trust was set in dispute against them and proved heavier.

Al-Mizan

Offering the trust is a figure of speech for measuring or weighing them, and accepting or refusing it is a metaphor for whether they had the inherent capacity to bear it; for all their vastness and strength, the heavens, the earth and the mountains lack it.

The trust as the wilāyah of the Commander of the Faithful Read →

Other exegetes

A narration names the trust as the wilāyah of the Commander of the Faithful; some narrations present this as loving ʿAlī or believing in his imamate.

Al-Mizan

It means that he was the first of the ummah to open the door to the divine wilāyah, making God one's guardian in all matters; it does not merely mean loving him or believing in his imamate, and those narrations give applications of the verse.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

1. What a trust is, and what the next verse shows about it
2. Four candidates ruled out: belief, religion, practice, perfection
3. Al-Mizan's view: the trust is the divine wilāyah
4. Objection: why burden an unjust, foolish creature?
5. The verse phrase by phrase
6. Objection: why not say the trust is religious duties?
7. The exegetes' other views on the trust
8. The exegetes' views on the offering
9. Narration: the trust as the wilāyah of the Commander of the Faithful

Read the whole commentary on 33:72 →