إن الله يأمركم أن تؤدوا الأمانات إلى أهلها وإذا حكمتم بين الناس أن تحكموا بالعدل إن الله نعما يعظكم به إن الله كان سميعا بصيرا
Inna'llāha yaʾmurukum an tuʾaddu'l-amānāti ilā ahlihā wa idhā ḥakamtum bayna'l-nāsi an taḥkumū bi'l-ʿadl, inna'llāha niʿimmā yaʿiẓukum bih, inna'llāha kāna Samīʿan Baṣīrā
"God commands you to deliver trusts to those entitled to them, and when you judge between people to judge with justice. Excellent is what God admonishes you with. God is Hearing, Seeing."
| Command | Field | Who to whom |
|---|---|---|
| Tuʾaddu'l-amānāti ilā ahlihā | What is held | The holder of the trust → its owner |
| Idhā ḥakamtum … an taḥkumū bi'l-ʿadl | What is decided | The one who judges → the parties |
What the two commands have in common must be recorded: in both, something belonging to another is in one party's hands. In the one it is property or an office, in the other a decision.
And this is the very centre of the line established in the sūra's introductory section: "the person whose right is in someone else's hands." I rely on that.
The root's original sense: to be secure, to be without fear. Amn — security; īmān — trusting and giving trust; amīn — trustworthy; amāna — what is left with someone in trust.
The widest use of the word is at al-Aḥzāb 33/72, and I rely on that treatment. A summary of what was recorded there:
"Al-amāna comes with the definite article — that is, it points to something known — but its content is not opened up… That the verse leaves the word indefinite is a datum of the text."
And in the table of disagreement given there over what the trust is, this verse was named as the ground of one view: "E. Trusts between people — what individuals leave with one another: property, a secret, an office. Its ground: the dictionary sense of the word; al-Nisāʾ 4/58." I rely on that treatment.
| al-Aḥzāb 33/72 | al-Nisāʾ 4/58 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Al-amāna — singular, definite | Al-amānāt — plural |
| Who carries it | Al-insān — the human being as a kind | Yaʾmurukum — the community addressed |
| What is asked | It is stated, not commanded | Tuʾaddū — let them be delivered |
| Direction | Given to the human being | Ilā ahlihā — back to its owner |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the number and the verbs of the two verses: the verse of al-Aḥzāb builds the trust as a burden; the verse of al-Nisāʾ makes it plural, as things to be returned. The one gives the concept, the other its application.
Tuʾaddū — root أ-د-ي: to convey a thing fully, without deficiency. Adāʾ — the complete discharge of a debt or an obligation. The verb states not "to give" but "to convey as is due".
Ilā ahlihā — "to those entitled to them". The root أ-ه-ل: to belong to a place, to settle in it. Ahl — the true owner of a thing, the one worthy of it. The verse does not say "to its owner", it says "to those entitled to it" — and this word is wide enough to take in both ownership and desert.
The verse names no office. The condition is framed so as to take in every case in which the act of judging occurs.
And the qualification bayna'l-nās must be recorded separately: "between people". The verse describes the parties to be judged by no belonging.
This will return once more, and more sharply, at the hundred and thirty-fifth verse: wa law ʿalā anfusikum awi'l-wālidayni wa'l-aqrabīn. The two verses work the same field, and will be tabled together in the concluding section.
The sūra's order of verse-endings was set out in a table in the introductory section. This verse's ending is two attributes of perception: hearing and seeing.
And that the ending is chosen to suit the subject must be recorded: a trust is most often something unseen; a judgement is something spoken. The two attributes answer to the two commands separately.
I record this as my own reading; its ground is the same method established in the discussion of al-Māʾida 5/8: there too it was shown that the verse-ending is chosen to suit the subject (khabīr, because He knows the inward side of testimony). I rely on that treatment.