Bār-i Amānat (‘the burden of trust’), a Sufi term also known as the Lordly Covenant (amānat-i rabbānī) or the Trust of Divine Lordship (amānat-i rubūbiyya). In Sufi terminology it is a Divine Trust by means of which humans acquire both the knowledge and friendship of God (al-Samʿānī, 277; Najm al-Dīn, Mirṣād, 145, Marmūzāt, 15–16; al-Nasafī, 252). It is also an innate and God-given ability that enables man to realise all the Divine Names and Attributes (al-Farghānī, 414, 643; Jāmī, 90; al-Kāshānī, 7/378).

In a general sense the Qurʾānic notion of amāna can be understood as having thr…