Rulings on trusts

Question

Praise be to Allah.

This
refers to entrusting something to someone to keep it for you voluntarily.

Wadee’ah
in Arabic means leaving a thing (with someone). In sharee’ah it means
the property which is left with someone to take care of it for nothing
in return.

In
order for this action to be valid, the person with whom it is left must
be a sane, mature adult, because this means entrusting the thing to
him to take care of it.

It
is mustahabb for the person who knows himself to be trustworthy and
able to take care of the thing to accept the trust, because that will
being a great reward, as it says in the hadeeth of the Prophet SAWS
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Allaah will help His slave
so long as the slave helps his brother.” And because people need this.
But if he knows that he is not able to take care of it, then it is makrooh
for him to accept this trust.

One
of the rules concerning trusts is that if it is destroyed or damaged
whilst in the care of the one to whom it has been entrusted, through
no negligence on his part, then he is not responsible for replacing
it, such as if it is destroyed or damaged along with some of his own
property, because it was something entrusted and the one to whom it
was entrusted is not responsible for replacing it if he did not overstep
the mark. It was narrated in a hadeeth which is da’eef (weak) to some
extent that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever is entrusted
with something, is not responsible for replacing it.” This was narrated
by Ibn Maajah. Al-Daraaqutni narrated a slightly different version:
“The one to whom something is entrusted is not responsible for replacing
it, except in the case of one who betrays that trust.” According to
another version: “The one who is entrusted with something is not obliged
to replace it,” because the one who is keeping it is doing so voluntarily.

If
he were to be held responsible, people would refuse to accept trusts
of this nature, which would cause a lot of harm for people and would
not serve their interests.

But
the one who oversteps the mark with regard to something that has been
entrusted to him, or who is negligent in looking after it, is responsible
for replacing it if it is damaged or destroyed, because he has caused
the property of another person to be damaged or destroyed.

Another
of the rulings concerningtrusts is that
the one to whom it has been entrusted has to keep itin a place where things of that nature are usually kept, just
as he looks after his own property, because Allaah has commanded that
trusts should be rendered back, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily,
Allaah commands that you should render back the trusts to those, to
whom they are due”

[al-Nisaa’
4:58]

And
they can only be rendered back by taking care of them. When the one
to whom it is entrusted accepts that trust, he is obliged to take care
of it and to do what is expected of him. If the thing entrusted is an
animal, then the one to whom it is entrusted has to feed it. If he stops
feeding it without being given permission by the owner and it dies,
then he is obliged to replace it, because feeding the animal is essential.
Along with being responsible for replacing it, he is also guilty of
sin for not feeding it or giving it water until it died, because he
is obliged to give it food and water as is enjoined by Allaah, because
its rights are sacred and are protected (by sharee’ah).

It
is permissible for the person to whom something has been entrusted to
give it to a person who usually takes care of his property, such as
his wife, slave, storekeeper or servant. If it gets damaged or destroyed
when in the care of one of these people, through no transgression or
negligence on their part, then he is not responsible for replacing it,
because he has the right to take care of it himself or to delegate that
to his deputy. The same applies if he gives it to a person who takes
care of the property of its owner; he is not responsible for replacing
it, because this is the custom.