The Book of Deposits

A deposit is a trust, and its custodian is entrusted with it. Trusts are of two kinds: a trust between the servant and his Creator, and a trust between created beings.

The trust between the servant and his Creator is the trust of religious duty. Allah offered it to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it. Man undertook it—meaning Adam, peace and blessings be upon him—and his descendants bore it after him. It consists of the obligations Allah has imposed upon His servants. He Most High offered it to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains on the condition that, if they fulfilled it well, they would be rewarded, and if they neglected it, they would be punished. They refused to bear it out of apprehension and fear that they would fail to fulfil what they owed Allah in this regard. Adam undertook it; indeed, he was unjust to himself, ignorant of what was in his own best interest, and ignorant of his Lord’s command. For after he accepted it with all that it entailed, no more than the interval between the afternoon prayer and nightfall that same day passed before he committed the sin. These obligations are the secrets of which Allah Most High says:

“On the Day when secrets are put to the test” [al-Tāriq: 9], “he will have neither power nor any helper” [al-Tāriq: 10].

Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked, “Have you heard that ablution is among the secrets?” He replied, “Yes, ablution is among the secrets. I have heard this among the things people say; but as for a hadith that I can narrate