In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Religious Authority H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the Friday prayer sermon, on the 5th of September 2008 A.D., 5 Ramadan 1429 H.
Betrayal Is the Worst Immoral Trait
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Trustworthiness is a humane Islamic value
Allah says in His Glorious Book, in the context of detailing the traits of believers: Allah doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due.
Trustworthiness is an Islamic and humanistic moral virtue that emerges from a mutual trust between the owner of the trust and the one entrusted with it who will promise that he will keep it and won’t betray it.
Trusts are not confined to money; they invoke everything that one takes on himself to be responsible of. In a marriage contract for example, both the wife and the husband have to commit themselves to all the commitments of the contract. The contract defines the rights of the two parties which is a trust that each has to keep and preserve.
Trustworthiness in this sense includes the responsibilities of the employees, towards their work, through the commitment by doing everything that his job implies.
The employer is also committed to give the worker all what the contract stipulates.
Trustworthiness also includes one’s responsibility towards the society. The society is the big responsibility of all its members. It is Allah’s trust to all of them, which they have to keep a way from fragmentation, collapse or strife and maintain its welfare and development.
The issue of Trustworthiness also extends to the motherland which is Allah’s trust to its citizens, which they ought to safeguard from those who wish to undermine it, impose the arrogant domination over it or create strife among its citizens.
In this respect, the governments are also a trust, the ruler holds the responsibility of keeping the trust of the people invested in him when they accepted him as a ruler, and he has to be trustworthy in taking care of their interests and affairs and in preserving their freedoms. The same thing applies to the elected persons whether in the Parliament or in the various institutions, the votes they get represent a trust whom they should not betray, leading to anything that might negatively effect the nation and the homeland.
The Responsibility of trust
The Holy Quran says: Ye that believe! Betray not the trust of Allah and the Messenger, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you.
The betrayal of the trust is not confined to the persons it has to do with the entire nation and the entire motherland.
In the context of teaching us about the real criterion by which we judge a person if he is a believer: If he is truthful and trustworthy, then he is a real believer whom Allah loves and is satisfied with.
Imam Ali (a.s.) says: The best act of belief is trustworthiness while the worst morals is betrayal.
Imam Al-Baqir says: “There are three things which Allah, the Mighty and the Glorious has not permitted anyone to forsake: returning a trust to its owner, irrespective of whether he is a good person or an evil one; fulfilling one’s promises and covenants, irrespective of whether it has been made to a good person or an evil one; being good and kind towards one’s parents, irrespective of whether they are good or evil.”
Imam As-Sadiq says: Fear Allah and return the trusts to those who have entrusted you with.
If the murderer of the commander of the faithful had entrusted me with a trust I would have returned it to him. What could be bigger than the crime of Ibin Malgam who killed Imam Ali (a.s.), yet As-Sadiq says that he would return his trust to him. This is what we say to those who find it permissible to take the money of non-Muslims, as stealing the money of the banks in foreign countries: This is Haram all in all.
Imam Ali (a.s.) says: “Do not betray the trust of he who trusts you even if he betrays you”. The Messenger (p) says: “He who is not trustworthy is void of belief Allah. He does not consider a person to be a believing one, even if he pronounces the two testimonies unless he is trustworthy. Otherwise, he would be a believer only verbally, while his actions will be those of an unbeliever.
He also says: “whoever betrays a trust in this world and does not return it to its owners, he would die not embracing my religion and he will be met with Allah’s anger.
Allah says: We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it; He was indeed unjust and foolish
Imam Ali (a.s.) comments on this Holy verse by saying: Then, as regards to fulfillment of trust, whoever does not pay attention to it will be disappointed. It was placed before the strong skies, vast earths and high mountains but none of them was found to be stronger, vaster, or higher than it. If anything could be unapproachable because of height, vastness, power or strength they would have been unapproachable, but they felt afraid of the evil consequences (of failure in fulfilling a trust) and noticed what a weaker being did not realize it, and this was man.
This Ayah was interpreted as meaning the trust of the commitments that Allah has entrusted us with, with respect to what he ordered us to do and what he prevented us from doing.
We have to rise to the level of commitment to the moral values which preserve us and our societies and draw us close to Allah.
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