-It’s one of the two characteristics that the Prophet (may Allah bless him) was known for even before he became a prophet.
Hadiths:
"Five prayers, from one Friday prayer to (the next) Friday prayer and rendering trusts are an expiation (of the sins committed in between their intervals)."
"Guarantee for me to do six things and I shall guarantee for you paradise; be truthful if you speak, keep your word when you promise, render whatever you are entrusted with, protect your private parts (from sin), lower your gaze and do not harm anyone”
-How many of those six do we do?
"Three are the signs of a hypocrite: when he speaks he tells a lie, when he makes a promise he breaks it, and when he is trusted he betrays."
“'There is no faith for he who lacks trustworthiness and there is no religion for he who can't keep a vow.”
-This hadith is extremely alarming!
-Does this mean that an untrustworthy person has no faith? Of course not. It means that unless he becomes trustworthy, his faith will never be complete.
-Let’s all vow that we’ll never break a promise or be disloyal.
“Pay the deposit to him who deposited it with you, and do not betray him who betrayed you”
-so where’s that bracelet you borrowed a couple of months ago from your friend? Did you ever return it?
-Did you know that the lack of trustworthiness is a sign of the day of judgment?
Types of Trusts:
1) Money and Deposits:
-hadith: "A Muslim is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe"
-Before he starts his hijra (the migration from Makkah to Madinah) journey, Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) cared very much for returning the deposits he had to their owners!
2) Honesty in Selling, Buying and Doing one's work:
-hadith: "The truthful and honest tradesman is with Prophets, truthful persons and martyrs in the Day of Judgment".
-Nowadays, a doctor might ask his patients to do unnecessary x-rays or tests only because there are mutual interests between him and the x-ray labs.
-The mechanic, who replaces parts of your car with new ones, though the old ones are still valid
3) Keeping secrets:
-hadith: "If a man talks to another, and he looks around him to make sure no one else hears what he says, then what he says is a trust"
4) Trustworthiness in gender relations:
-The example of Sayyidna Musa and his modesty in dealing with the two ladies he helped out.
-Don't use excuses to talk to people of the opposite gender. Interaction should be limited and for a purpose.
5) Trustworthiness with Wives:
-husbands do not own their wives
-The wife is a trust that the husband has, hence the marriage contract.
-Aya: Allah says what can be translated as, "…and they have taken from you a strong pledge?" (TMQ, 4:21).
6) Children’s Trustworthiness:
-Young men or women who take money from their parents behind their back are being untrustworthy.
-A girl who makes a relation with a man behind her parents back is betraying them.
-Aya: "…and you reckoned it was a simple thing, and in the Reckoning of Allah it is a tremendous thing" (TMQ, 24: 15).
So, let us extend our definition a bit and say, "Trustworthiness is to preserve all the blessings that were granted to you by Allah".
-Your children are a trust: raise them well, not just by buying them everything they need.
-your health: don’t smoke, etc.
-your eyes: look out: wear hijab to preserve that trust that Allah has given you.
-your fortune
-your knowledge
-your family
Hadith: “A servant of Allah will remain standing on the Day of Judgment till he is questioned about his age and how he spent it; and about his knowledge and how he utilized it; about his wealth from where he acquired it and in what (activities) he spent it; and about his body as to how he used it.”
7) The Trust of Protecting Islam:
-This is the greatest trust of all.
-You are responsible for Islam as you will be asked about it on the Day of Judgment.
-Do you really recite the Qur'an?
-Do you attend those lessons instructing you about your religion?
-Do you work on guiding your dear ones to the path of Allah?
-Aya: "You have been the most charitable nation brought out to mankind: you command good, and forbid evil, and believe in Allah" (TMQ, 3: 110)
- Don’t ever think that it is the responsibility of scholars only. You are responsible for passing along the knowledge we learn here.
8) Lost & Found:
Scroll down to the end of this entry for the "Fiqh of lost and found", taken from SunniPath.com answers.
These are some of the trusts we have to take care of. It is such a heavy burden, isn’t it?
-Aya: "Surely We presented the to the heavens, the earth and mountains. Yet they refused to carry it and were afraid of it (of the responsibility), and man carried it/assumed it. Surely he has been constantly unjust, constantly ignorant" (TMQ, 33: 72).
-The heavens, the earth and the mountains refused to bear the trust because it is too heavy of a burden!
I hope that our concept of trustworthiness has now broadened and that we will be more careful about keeping our trusts. May Allah help us all to keep what we are entrusted with.
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The Fiqh of Lost & Found: What are the rules pertaining to lost and found goods?
Answered by Sidi Sohail Hanif
What are the rules pertaining to lost and found goods?
There are a number of rules concerning lost and found goods. In fact, books of fiqh normally have an entire chapter devoted to the topic.
The basic rules can be understood from the following points. These are summarised from Ibn ‘Abidin’s Radd al-Muhtar [3:317, Bulaq] and Shaykh ‘Ali Haydar’s extensive commentary on Majalla al-Ahkam al-‘Adaliyya, the Ottoman law code [articles 769 and 770].
If somebody finds an item, it can fall into one of the following categories: An item known to be purposely discarded by its owner. A perishable item deemed customarily to be of no value and concerning which one is reasonably sure that the owner will not care to look for it. e.g. a lone pear found floating in a stream, or a walnut found on the pavement. An item deemed to be of value to its owner. If i or ii above, then one can use it as one wishes without having need to announce that one has found the item in question. If iii then the item is termed a ‘lost and found good’ (luqata). It is impermissible to take the good for ones own consumption. One may either take it to return it to its owner or leave it in its place. The particular circumstances dictate which is superior, taking or leaving.
If one is able to announce the lost item and undertake the search for the owner then it is superior to pick it up. Imam al-Sarakhsi mentions in al-Mabsut that in taking it and returning it to it’s owner is fulfilling a trust which is a praiseworthy act in accordance with the noble verse ‘Indeed Allah commands you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due’ [4:58] If one suspects that one will fall short in the fulfilling the legal requirements of handling a lost and found item then it is superior to leave it. If one fears that if one does not take it somebody else will steal it then it is obligatory to take it. If one feels certain of oneself that one can not fulfil the rules pertaining to lost and found goods then one it is forbidden for one to take it. If one does take it then one must take the following measures: o Announce to those in the vicinity that one is taking this item to return it to its owner. If one is unable to announce one’s intent (ishhad) when taking the item due to the absence of witnesses, then one should do so when able.
o Undertake a general announcement (ta`rif) concerning the found item so as to locate the owner. This can take any means necessary and should be widespread enough so as to locate the owner.
o After having undertaken the above steps one has fulfilled the conditions of the lost and found good and it is considered entrusted to one’s care (amana) meaning that one is not liable to cover the costs for any accidental damage or destruction that may befall the item when in one’s care.
If a person comes and claims that he is the owner then one may hand it over to him if he provides evidence that it is his, or is able to describe it exactly or if one just feels certain in ones heart that he is the owner.
If one were to give it to someone, being convinced by his claim and thereafter the real owner were to come with a clear proof that the item found belonged to him then he takes the item from the false claimer if it is still in one piece. If it has been destroyed he is given its value from either the finder or the false claimer.
To facilitate this process the scholars mention that it is often better to describe the object only in general terms, for example ‘a wallet’, and then let someone claiming to be the owner to describe it in detail.
One keeps announcing the good and searching for its owner until a sufficient amount of time has passed such that one does not believe that the owner is still looking for it and cannot be located. In the case of perishable goods such as food items one keeps announcing until one fears that they will rot. One may then either,
i. keep holding on to it with the intention of returning it to the owner. This of course is only an option with non perishable goods.
ii. give either the item or it’s value in charity with the intention of donating the reward to the owner,
iii. sell it with the intention of giving the money to the owner.
If the owner should present himself thereafter:
o If one had given it in charity, the owner can either approve of the charity in which case he has the reward for the charity or demand the value of the good from the person who had given it in charity.
o If one had sold it, then the owner can either take the money from the sale or cancel the transaction and demand the original item from person who had bought it.
These are the main rules mentioned concerning this quite taxing responsibility. Further details may be found in books of fiqh such as the two aforementioned sources. What can be learnt from this is the great emphasis that Islam places on fulfilling and safeguarding the rights of our fellow human beings. People freely indulging in other people’s property and disregarding their rights are quite far from the high, noble ideals of the religion. May Allah give us tawfiq in giving all people their due rights.
Sohail Hanif
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