Tradition

"إنَّ اللّه لَمْ يَبْعَثْ نَبِيّاً إلاّ بِصِدقِ الْحَدِيثِ وَ أَداءِ الأَمانَةِ"

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) is narrated to have said: “God ordered all of his prophets to invite the people of the world to truthfulness and the giving back of trusts.”1

Brief Commentary

A healthy society must necessarily possess certain foundations and the most important of these is that of public trust. This includes trust related to speech, as well as trust related to action. Naturally, the biggest enemy to these two things is lying and treachery. If we look at a society where lying and treachery has become commonplace, then we find that people fear one another and they feel alone and isolated.

Everyone bears their burdens alone and this is a society filled with isolated and disconnected people. It is for this reason that inviting people to truthfulness and safeguarding what people have entrusted are two of the most foundational parts of the prophetic message which God has sent down to humanity.

• 1. Narrated from the book Safinat al-Bihar.