Someone might ask, “How could Allah present the trust to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains when they are lifeless entities that possess neither intellect nor sensation?”

The answer is that, in relation to Allah, every inanimate object is endowed with awareness: it understands and complies. Reflect on His words, as reported by the Messenger of Allah—may peace and blessings be upon him—concerning the creation of the Pen. Allah said to the Pen, “Write.” He thus addressed the Pen, though it is inanimate, and the Pen replied, “What shall I write?” The command was undefined, and a general order cannot be fulfilled until it is made specific. Allah then said, “Write everything that will occur until the Day of Resurrection,” so the Pen wrote, by Allah’s command, all that is destined to happen up to that Day. This is a clear example of command, obligation, and enforcement.

Likewise, Allah has told us that He offered the trust to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it. He also says: “Then He turned to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly.’ They said, ‘We come willingly’” (Fussilat 41:11). He addressed them with the directive, “Come, willingly or unwillingly,” and they replied, “We come willingly.” Thus the heavens and the earth understood Allah’s address and obeyed, saying, “We come willingly,” while the children of Adam defy Him, saying, “We hear, yet we disobey.” In spite of that, Allah has favoured humanity over many of His other creatures in detailed ways, and He has dispatched the messengers to humankind so they may clarify the truth for them and distinguish it from