The offering of ‘trust’ here means a transference of power, to be used at man’s discretion. This power is something with which God has entrusted man temporarily, by way of trial, so that man of his own volition, should become obedient to God. Acceptance of this trust amounts to becoming God’s representative. One has to impose upon oneself what the stars and planets do under compulsion. In other words, surrender voluntarily to God’s will. In this universe, only God is the Lord and all things are His subjects. But, Almighty God willed that He should create independent creatures who, without any compulsion, would voluntarily do whatever God wanted them to do. This voluntary obedience constituted a great trial for mankind. The heavens, the earth and the mountains could not undertake it. However, man accepted it, in spite of the serious risks involved. Now man is God’s trustee in this world. He has to apply the rule of God to himself just as God applies it to others according to His will. Man is being put to the test and the present world is a vast examination hall. God’s trust is an extremely crucial responsibility, because it gives rise to the problem of reward and punishment. Other creatures, being helpless, are bound to conform to the will of God. So there is no question of reward or punishment for them. But, man enjoys freedom and this being so, he is deserving of reward or punishment. There is a tradition handed down from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas, which says that when Almighty God mentioned the subject of trust to Adam, he asked what was meant by trust. Almighty God replied: ‘If you perform good deeds, you will receive a reward, but if you perform bad deeds, you will be punished.’ (Tafsir ibn Kathir). The will of God has been enforced on the whole world. This same will of God has to be imposed on man of his own accord.