The privilege of trust

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Sadia Dehlvi [1]

When Allah sent Adam and Eve to Earth, He promised that humanity would never be without guidance. Divine scriptures provide a network of channels. If we follow them, our lives will flow smoothly, guarded and guided.

The Quran says that Allah taught Adam the names and nature of all things, and that knowledge gave humanity power over all created things. Knowledge, intelligence and understanding define Islam, for Prophet Muhammad said, “Allah has created nothing more noble than intelligence.”
The Quran clarifies that the granting of wisdom is akin to possessing abundant wealth. At Islam’s most universal level, the birds, trees and animals all glorify God, but vice-regency is a special human quality. “Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I will create a vice-regent on Earth.’”
Allah refers to humanity as the best of creation, so dignity and responsibility accompany vice-regency, which must obey commands and instructions. Servanthood precedes vice-regency, for a king does not appoint deputies unless they prove trustworthy. The vice-regency of a man is closely associated with the doctrine of the amanah, trust. The Quran says: “We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the Earth and the mountains; but they refused to carry it and were afraid, but man undertook to carry it; he was indeed ignorant and a wrongdoer (Quran, 33:72)”. This refers to free choice, something that pertains exclusively to humans.
Despite all their splendour, the angels remain passive for they are not capable of disobedience. Besides, angels were not given the knowledge humans possess. Even far away from the divine axis, a kaamil insaan, the perfect man, is capable of being God’s khalifah, representative on Earth.
To carry the trust, people must freely accept to be servants of God. The Quran indicates that everything that humans have is given by God, implying that through the natural course of events everything entrusted to man must return to its source.
Since all creation is designed to glorify Allah and is given to us by Allah with trust, it must be respected and protected from abuse. The trust is betrayed when we arrogate the power of vice-regency to ourselves, using the gift of knowledge and divine attributes to become servants of low-level passions pertaining to ego. In the lust for worldly power, one’s inner balance is distorted and in treating oneself like God, the place of the king is usurped.
Deliverance lies in following the prophets and people of righteous behaviour. The vice-regency given to humanity is subject to scrutiny: “Then We made you heirs in the land after them, to see how you would behave! (Quran, 10:14)”

Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com