the seven destructive sins.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what are they?” He replied, “Associating partners with Allah; sorcery; killing a soul whom Allah has forbidden to kill except with due right; consuming usury; devouring the property of an orphan; fleeing from the battlefield; and slandering chaste, unsuspecting, believing women.”

After that, the Almighty commanded that orphans’ property be returned to them once their state of orphanhood has ended and they are qualified to manage it soundly, and that it be delivered in full and unharmed. He, Exalted is He, says: “Give the orphans their property” (Q 4:2). And He says: “When they reach marriageable age, if you perceive in them sound judgment, then hand over to them their property; and do not consume it wastefully or in haste before they come of age. Whoever is affluent, let him refrain; whoever is poor, let him eat in a fair manner. When you hand over their property to them, call witnesses over them. And Allah is sufficient as a Reckoner” (Q 4:6).

In other words, Allah alone is sufficient to take the guardians to account, witnessing and overseeing them both while they look after the orphans and when they deliver their property—whether it is handed over intact and preserved or diminished and devalued.