The second attribute of Prophethood is amanah, an Arabic word which means ‘trustworthiness’. It is derived from the same root as the word mu’min, believer. Being a believer implies being ‘a trustworthy person‘. The Prophets, upon them all be peace, were foremost in belief and therefore at the summit of trustworthiness. To stress this principle, God summarizes the stories of five Prophets using the same words:

In summary of the other stories, the names Hud, Lot, Shu‘ayb and Salih replace the name Noah. These are just a few of the many verses emphasizing the trustworthiness of the Prophets.

It should be noted that mu’min, trustworthy, is one of the Divine Names. God is the ultimate Mu’min, because He is the source of security and reliability. We put our trust in, confide in, and rely upon, Him. He distinguished the Prophets by their trustworthiness. Our connection to Him is through the Prophets and is based entirely on their trustworthiness and reliability.

As trustworthiness is a most important attribute of Prophethood, it is also an essential quality of the Archangel Gabriel. The Qur’an describes Gabriel as one obeyed and trustworthy (al-Ta kwir, 81.21). We received the Qur’an through two trustworthy Messengers, Gabriel and the Prophet Muhammad. Gabriel conveyed it to Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and the latter communicated it to us.

The Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, was trustworthy to the utmost degree in his mission as a Prophet and in his general behaviour towards God‘s creatures. As he did not show any disloyalty to his cause, neither did he cheat anybody in his life.

The Messenger was chosen by God for his trustworthiness so that he would be totally devoted to delivering the Message truthfully. He was so concerned about his duty that he used to repeat the verses while Gabriel was reciting them to him until God revealed:

As the Qur’an was given to him as a trust, he did his utmost to convey it to people in the best way possible. He dedicated his life to this sacred cause, constantly aware of the weight of his responsibility. In the last year of his life, he made his farewell pilgrimage, during which he gave a sermon on the hill of ‘Arafat. He communicated to people the Commandments of God once more and at the end of each sentence, he told the pilgrims, They will, in the near future, inquire of you about me, and asked them: Have I conveyed the Message to you? Each time the Muslims answered, ‘Yes, you have conveyed’, he repeated, O God, be the witness!

God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, never thought of concealing even a word of the Divine Revelation. We read in the Qur’an that God admonished him mildly for a few actions of his. Were he not the Messenger of God and — God forbid the thought! — were he the author of the Qur’an, there would have been no such admonition in it.

The society in which the Messenger was raised was a primitive one. Many of the prevalent customs contradicted reason and sociological and scientific facts. For example, adopted children enjoyed the same legal status as natural children and it followed that a man could not legally marry, for example, the widow or former wife of an adopted son. This practice was to be abolished, as adoption can never create a relationship comparable to the relationship with biological parents. God chose to solve this problem, as always, through the ideal example of His Messenger in order to separate a ‘legal’ fiction from a natural reality, and established a new law and custom.

Zayd, who was an emancipated slave and servant of God’s Messenger whom he addressed as ‘my son’, had married Zaynab, the daughter of Jahsh. It was God’s Messenger himself, upon him be peace and blessings, who had arranged this marriage. Nevertheless, it soon became clear that the marriage would not last long. Zayd admitted that he was spiritually inferior to his wife. He concluded that it was better for him to divorce her. In the end, the Qur’an commanded Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings:

We gave her in marriage to you (al-Ahzab, 33.37).

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, was obliged by this Divine command to marry her. This was, of course, against the established traditions of the time, and was difficult for God’s Messenger to carry out, as the hypocrites would use this opportunity to defame him, so he delayed announcing the Divine decree, for which he received the following admonition:

Then, you said to him on whom God bestowed grace and you have done favour, ‘Keep your wife to yourself and fear God’. But you did hide in your heart that which God was about to make manifest because you feared the people [that they would speak slander against you], whereas God had a better right that you should fear him. (al-Ahzab, 33.37)

‘A’isha, Mother of Believers, later commented on the event:

If Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, had not been a trustworthy Messenger, he would, as ‘A’isha rightly said, have concealed that verse. However, concealing it would have been contrary to his character and mission. Furthermore, the verse 67 of surah al-Ma’ida contains a clear, decisive order for the Prophet not to conceal anything of the Qur’an, for concealment of even a single Revelation would amount to mean that he did not deliver his Message. The verse reads:

So, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, communicated to people whatever was revealed to Him by God.

The Prophet’s trustworthiness in his relations with creatures

God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was trustworthy and encouraged trustworthiness. Once, during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan, his wife Safiyya visited him while he confined himself in mosque for constant prayer. As he escorted her home, two of his Companions happened to pass by. The Messenger stopped them and, unveiling the face of his wife Safiyya, said to them, Look, this is my wife, Safiyya!

They said: ‘God forbid any evil thought about you, O Messenger of God!’ The Messenger had wanted to warn them against any evil suspicion about him, which might cause them to lose their faith and thereby condemn them to eternal Hellfire. He gave them and us a lesson, saying, Satan continuously circulates within man in his blood vessels.

God’s Messenger was an embodiment of trustworthiness. The Makkans called him ‘the Trustworthy One.’ Even after the declaration of his Prophethood, they continued to entrust their precious goods to him although they regarded him as an enemy.

He warned his people against lying, breaking one’s word and breach of trust. Like breaching a trust and breaking one’s word, lying was also, in his words, ‘a sign of hypocrisy’. He was so meticulous in this matter that once he saw a woman call her child saying, ‘Come on, I’ll give you something!‘ He asked her whether she would really give the child something. When the woman replied that she would give him a date, God’s Messenger warned: If you were not to give something, that would be a lie!

He was not only against deceiving humans, but even warned people against deceiving animals. Once, annoyed at seeing one of his Companions call his horse using deception, he said: