Verse: 33:72, what was the 'trust' (amanah)?
Question:
I want to ask a question about the meaning of an Ayah. Quran says:
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا [٣٣:٧٢
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;-
What is the things that human undertook but nature refused?
Why accepting this is an unjust and foolish decision by human? Does human have the choice to bear it or not?
Does nature have the choice to accept it or not?
What is the meaning of Amaanah here?
Please explain in detail.
Answer:
To start with please note that the verse is among allegorical verses and therefore its language is the language of symbolism. I have read very literal interpretations of the verses which I don’t think provide us with any insights as to what the verse is talking about.
The most literal interpretation of the verse is as follows:
“God offered the Amanah (whatever it might be) to the heavens and the earth but they rejected it, then human being accepted it due to the fact that he was oppressing (to himself) and ignorant.”
If we go by the above interpretation then a natural conclusion will be that human being made a mistake by accepting this Amanah which then also raises the question that why God would want to give such problematic Amanah to any of His creation.
When I look at the verse beyond its apparent literal meaning, this is what I understand from it:
God created a being that deserved and had the full ability to handle His precious Amanah (we will look at the meaning of Amanah later). Despite the vastness of heaven and the earth this Amanah could not be handled by them because they did not have the basic abilities to bear it. This ability of human being is the same that makes him so valuable that God instructs angels to pay him their respects by prostration.
So as you can see in my understanding the whole narration of the question and answer is only a symbolic way to say despite the vastness of heaven and earth, human being has a potential and capability that none of them could bear.
As for Amanah, as you know there are different suggestions for its meaning. Among them are: ‘free will’, ‘intellect’, ‘God’s deputy on earth’, ‘following God’s religion’, … . In my view, the Amanah is the very features that human beings have and the rest of the world (as far as we can see) does not have it. Thinking about it this way, all the above are in fact elements of the same package. Human being is given an Intellect, which then allows him to have Freewill. It is due to this freewill that if someone follows God’s religion he has done a valuable thing. The freewill and intellect while resulting in following God’s religion, will make the man a deserved deputy of the Almighty.
Therefore in my understanding all the above suggestions are correct, as they are all referring to the elements of a same package. Looking at it from this perspective, the attitudes of being oppressing (crossing one's limit) and ignorant (deciding without enough knowledge), while being among the weaknesses and dangerous attitudes of human being, are in fact very helpful attitudes when it comes to handling that Amanah. Note that God Himself created man with these attitudes and other similar ones (4:28, 21:37). It is in fact the attitudes of Jahl (ignorance) and Zulm (oppression) that provide that challenging situation (referred in the Qur’an as Ibtila - 67:2) that allows human being to make mistakes on the basis of the freewill and intellect, learn from these mistakes on the same basis, and go up the ladder of becoming a perfect human being, to the extent that deserves even the respect of the angels. The pinnacle of this perfection were personalities like Abraham, Musa, Isa and Muhammad (pbut). These, in my understanding, were among those who God taught their names to Adam, and thus, provided an answer to the angels, when they objected that why God created a being that sheds lots of blood on the face of the earth. In other words, the answer was, ‘you will see, it is worth it!’ (2:30, 31).
I hope I have answered the question but let me know if it needs more clarification and detail.
--------
September 2015
I want to ask a question about the meaning of an Ayah. Quran says:
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا [٣٣:٧٢
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;-
What is the things that human undertook but nature refused?
Why accepting this is an unjust and foolish decision by human? Does human have the choice to bear it or not?
Does nature have the choice to accept it or not?
What is the meaning of Amaanah here?
Please explain in detail.
Answer:
To start with please note that the verse is among allegorical verses and therefore its language is the language of symbolism. I have read very literal interpretations of the verses which I don’t think provide us with any insights as to what the verse is talking about.
The most literal interpretation of the verse is as follows:
“God offered the Amanah (whatever it might be) to the heavens and the earth but they rejected it, then human being accepted it due to the fact that he was oppressing (to himself) and ignorant.”
If we go by the above interpretation then a natural conclusion will be that human being made a mistake by accepting this Amanah which then also raises the question that why God would want to give such problematic Amanah to any of His creation.
When I look at the verse beyond its apparent literal meaning, this is what I understand from it:
God created a being that deserved and had the full ability to handle His precious Amanah (we will look at the meaning of Amanah later). Despite the vastness of heaven and the earth this Amanah could not be handled by them because they did not have the basic abilities to bear it. This ability of human being is the same that makes him so valuable that God instructs angels to pay him their respects by prostration.
So as you can see in my understanding the whole narration of the question and answer is only a symbolic way to say despite the vastness of heaven and earth, human being has a potential and capability that none of them could bear.
As for Amanah, as you know there are different suggestions for its meaning. Among them are: ‘free will’, ‘intellect’, ‘God’s deputy on earth’, ‘following God’s religion’, … . In my view, the Amanah is the very features that human beings have and the rest of the world (as far as we can see) does not have it. Thinking about it this way, all the above are in fact elements of the same package. Human being is given an Intellect, which then allows him to have Freewill. It is due to this freewill that if someone follows God’s religion he has done a valuable thing. The freewill and intellect while resulting in following God’s religion, will make the man a deserved deputy of the Almighty.
Therefore in my understanding all the above suggestions are correct, as they are all referring to the elements of a same package. Looking at it from this perspective, the attitudes of being oppressing (crossing one's limit) and ignorant (deciding without enough knowledge), while being among the weaknesses and dangerous attitudes of human being, are in fact very helpful attitudes when it comes to handling that Amanah. Note that God Himself created man with these attitudes and other similar ones (4:28, 21:37). It is in fact the attitudes of Jahl (ignorance) and Zulm (oppression) that provide that challenging situation (referred in the Qur’an as Ibtila - 67:2) that allows human being to make mistakes on the basis of the freewill and intellect, learn from these mistakes on the same basis, and go up the ladder of becoming a perfect human being, to the extent that deserves even the respect of the angels. The pinnacle of this perfection were personalities like Abraham, Musa, Isa and Muhammad (pbut). These, in my understanding, were among those who God taught their names to Adam, and thus, provided an answer to the angels, when they objected that why God created a being that sheds lots of blood on the face of the earth. In other words, the answer was, ‘you will see, it is worth it!’ (2:30, 31).
I hope I have answered the question but let me know if it needs more clarification and detail.
--------
September 2015
