The Meaning of Trust and Its Great Status, and What Falls Under It

Question:
Now, Honorable Shaykh, this person asks and says: Tell us about trust (amanah) and its great status, and what falls under it?

Answer:
Trust is everything for which a person is held responsible. The greatest of these is the trust between the servant and his Lord, by obeying Him and avoiding His prohibitions, by fulfilling what Allah has made obligatory upon him and avoiding what Allah has forbidden. This is the trust between the servant and his Lord. Also included in trust are the positions that the one in authority assigns to employees. A position is a trust. Allah the Exalted said to those in authority: meaning that you should assign tasks to those who are capable of carrying them out. So a job is a trust, and working the job is a trust that a person must fulfill by performing it.
Among the trusts are the secrets between people. If there is a secret between you and your brother, do not disclose it, for that is part of trust. Also included in trust are deposits. Some people do not understand trust except as a deposit, but trust is general, and a deposit is only one part of it. If a person is entrusted with a deposit, he must preserve it and not neglect it until he returns it to its owner, the one who deposited it. Yes.