for a person of sound disposition does not wish anyone to learn what has taken place between him and his wife.

Therefore we must safeguard trusts. The very first trusts we must protect are those that exist between us and our Lord, for His right over us is the greatest of all rights. After that come the rights of other people, each according to its proper rank.

“Truly, what an excellent admonition Allah gives you!” In this clause Allah praises the guidance with which He counsels us: the commands He wants us to fulfil and the prohibitions He wants us to avoid. He then concludes the verse with His words, “Indeed Allah has always been All-Hearing, All-Seeing” (4:58) — Hearing everything you say and Seeing everything you do. Ending the verse with these two noble Names, which encompass His perfect hearing and sight, carries an implicit threat to anyone who fails to deliver trusts to those entitled to them. Allah is the One who grants success.

He also says: “We offered the trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it; yet man undertook it—indeed he is ever unjust and ignorant” (33:72).

[Explanation] The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cited this verse: “We offered the trust….” Allah presented the trust—meaning moral responsibility and the obligation to carry out what is required—to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they declined to bear it because of the hardship involved and because these three—earth, mountains and heavens—feared that they might fail to uphold it.