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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Anecdotes for Reflection Part 1 Trustworthiness ================== Allah, the Wise, has said: اِنَّ اللهَ ياَمُرُكُمْ اَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْاَماَناَتِ اَليَ اَهْلِهَا Surely Allah commands you to render back your trusts to their owners.

[^1] Imam Baqir (a.s.) said: فَلَوْ اَنَّ قاَتِلَ عَلِيّ بْنِ اَبيِ طاَلِب انْتَمَنَى عَلىَ اَماَنَةٍ لَاَدَّيْتُهاَ اِلَيْهِ (If the murderer of Imam Ali (a.s.) places a trust in my possession, I would surely return it back to him) [^2] 62 Short Explanation If anything is placed in trust with someone, safeguarding of that thing is obligatory and unfaithfulness with respect to it is prohibited, irrespective of whether its owner is a believer or a disbeliever.

A trustworthy person, as a result of safeguarding people’s belongings, becomes the beneficiary of God’s grace and favour. A person who is unfaithful towards people’s trust can be compared to a thief and God cloaks such a person with poverty and indigence. One of the signs of perfect faith is not being unfaithful towards the trusts. A trust can be in the form of money, things or even secrets.

Shaitan leads astray a trustworthy person by causing him to become unfaithful towards the trust placed with him. Trustworthiness of Umm Salamah When Imam Ali (a.s.) decided to move to Iraq and settle there, he handed his letters and testament to Umm Salamah, who in turn passed them over to Imam Hasan (a.s.) on his return to Madinah.

In a similar manner, when Imam Husain (a.s.) set out for Iraq, he too placed his letters and testament in the custody of Umm Salamah with instructions that she should hand them over to his eldest son whenever he sought them from her.

After the martyrdom of Imam Husain (a.s.), Imam Sajjad (a.s.) returned to Madinah and she handed documents over to him.[^3]63 U'mar , the son of Umm Salamah, narrates: “My mother said: Once, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), accompanied by Ali (a.s.), came to my house and asked for a sheepskin. After I had handed it to him, he wrote something on the sheepskin and returned it to me with the instruction: “Whoever seeks this trust from you after mentioning these signs, hand it over to him.

” As time passed, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) departed from this world. Time passed and Imam Ali (a.s.) became Caliph and still nobody came to claim this trust. U'mar continues: “On the day when the people pledged allegiance to Ali (a.s.), I was seated among them.

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