The Greatest Trust of Human Life and the Profound Effects of Preserving It
What is the greatest trust of your life? You might say it is your spouse, your children, or perhaps a valuable jewel someone entrusted to you. All of these are correct in their own way. Yet, if we look deeper, there is a trust far heavier than all of these—a trust we will carry with us into the Hereafter. This trust is not only spiritual in value but also a direct measure of the state of our hearts. Keeping it is not merely a moral trait; it is a sign of how pure, awake, and alive our hearts truly are.
If we want to know the real condition of our inner world, we should examine how responsible we feel toward the trusts placed in our hands. Do we neglect them, or do we truly care? If we unintentionally harm them, do we feel sorrow and unease, or do we walk away carelessly? These attitudes reveal the state of our hearts. But before we measure this, we must first understand what these trusts actually are.
The scope of the trusts entrusted to us is broad. Some relate to people, and some belong directly to God.
People’s Rights (ḥaqq an-nās)
-Material belongings (money, property, possessions)
-Moral rights (respect, kindness)
-Personal rights (privacy, freedom)
-Social rights (security, justice)
We are responsible for all of these, even if the other person is not necessarily righteous. Yet, this is only half of the story. The other half is God’s rights (ḥaqq Allāh)—the things God Himself has placed in our care: our body, our soul, and most importantly, our heart.
The Greatest Trust of Our Life
Among all divine trusts, the greatest and heaviest is the human heart—the part of us that scriptures describe as supra-rational. It is the place inclined toward God, the place that finds peace only in His remembrance. The heart is capable of becoming more like its true Beloved—God Himself. This is where the concept of trust reaches its highest meaning.
We are commanded to keep this heart pure, nourished, and on the path of growth. A heart cared for gradually becomes polished, free of impurities, and closer in likeness to God. This is not achieved through slogans or temporary emotions; it requires daily effort, discipline, and spiritual training.
But trust is not limited to the heart. Our body is also a trust from God. Overeating, neglecting nourishment, depriving ourselves of sleep, or exposing the body to harm are all forms of betrayal. Just as abandoning an infant on the street is cruel and inhumane, neglecting the soul is equally tragic.
The Quran describes how God offered this trust to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they refused it, finding it too heavy. Humanity accepted it: the spirit of God entrusted to us [1], which unfolded into the soul, the heart, and the various faculties of the soul, that is, sense perception, imagination, estimation, and intellect. Each requires special care.
If we let our imagination dwell on anything, fill our estimation with fear and sorrow, or feed our intellect with shallow and false knowledge, we betray this trust. We cannot expect the soul to return to God sound if we drown it in corrupt thoughts and habits.
We are also not allowed to replace the true Beloved with false ones. Wealth, power, fame, beauty, even family and knowledge—none of these can take the place of God as the deepest love of our hearts. To do so is to divert the heart from its true path.
How Do We Care for This Trust?
Caring for this precious Soul Child requires the same seriousness with which we care for our own children. Just as we provide education, nourishment, and healthcare for a child, we must provide proper teachers, spiritual learning, a pure environment, and nourishing thoughts for the soul.
Examples of such care include:
-Attending spiritual and ethical gatherings
-Reading sound and authentic texts
-Avoiding corrupt and toxic environments
-Practicing mindfulness
-Worshiping with awareness
-Choosing divine loves instead of worldly attachments
Regular self-examination is also key. Questions like: “What am I most attached to right now?” or “Does this decision make me more similar to God?” serve as mirrors for our journey.
Every level of the soul—sensation, imagination, estimation, and intellect—is part of this trust. Negligence in the precise care, correct upbringing, and proper, specialized cultivation of each of these dimensions is considered a betrayal of the greatest trust in our lives, and it carries severe and irreparable consequences for us.
For instance, we cannot contaminate our imagination with any thought or allow our estimation to be fueled by fears and sorrows. Our soul is God’s trust, and we are not its ultimate owners. Thus, we cannot let it sink into the filth of moral and ideological corruption. Nor can we allow the beloveds of our lower dimensions—like wealth, resources, beauty, marriage, power, family, knowledge, fame, authority, etc.—to become the dearest and most valuable beloveds of our hearts, prioritizing them over our spiritual beloveds: God, the expert infallible Imams, and jihad [2].
We are obligated to nurture this trust in a way that it remains sound, filled with love, and similar to God. Any negligence on this path is a form of betrayal to our fitrah. We have pledged to follow His way in this world of our own free will, and to bring our heart to a state where God can manifest within it.
How Do You Preserve Your Heart?
The essential question is not what in our lives is a trust, but what we do with that trust. True trust-keeping is not just “preserving” but “growing,” “nurturing,” and “returning” it better than before. Our heart is God’s Spirit entrusted to us—pure, delicate, and ready to connect with its Source. During our journey toward eternity, we must help it actualize its hidden potential.
Now is the time to ask ourselves: How have we treated this precious Soul Child? Have we left it hungry, wounded, and neglected? Or have we matured it with love, healthy nourishment, proper training, and divine affection?
Preserving the heart is the greatest responsibility of our life. If we succeed, not only will we have a sound heart, but also a healed spirit—peaceful, whole, and ready to unite with its true Beloved: God.
References
- “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.” (Quran, 33:72)
- Quran, 9:24