إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا ﴿۷۲﴾ لِيُعَذِّبَ اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ وَالْمُشْرِكَاتِ وَيَتُوبَ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا ﴿۷۳﴾

﴾72﴿ Innaa 'aradnal amaanata 'alas samaawaati walardi wal jibaali fa abaina ai yahmil nahaa wa ashfaqna minhaa wa hamalahal insaanu innahoo kaana zalooman jahoolaa
﴾73﴿ Liyu 'azzibal laahul munaafiqeena wal munaafiqaati walmushrikeena wal mushrikaati wa yatoobal laahu 'alal mu'mineena walmu'minaat; wa kaanal laahu Ghafoorar Raheema

﴾72﴿ Indeed, We offered the trust (responsibility) to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it and were afraid of betraying it. Yet, man took it upon himself. Indeed, he is very unjust and ignorant
﴾73﴿ So that Allah may punish the hypocrite men and hypocrite women, and the polytheist men and polytheist women, and so that Allah may grant repentance to the believing men and believing women. And Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful

[72] Since in the surah the manners, ethics, and rulings have been explained — and this is the trust of Allah the Exalted placed upon mankind — now the punishment is mentioned for the person who betrays this kind of trust.
Similarly, in the previous verse, the state of those who obey was mentioned; now the state of the betrayers is mentioned.
There is an objection in this verse, which is that: when man accepted and bore the trust of Allah the Exalted, it would have been fitting to praise and commend him — yet instead he is described as a great wrongdoer and very ignorant. And if by “man” is meant the specific person of Adam (peace be upon him), then it seems highly unlikely that he would be called unjust and ignorant.
One answer to this is that the pronoun does not refer to this human being but to another who betrays the trust. However, this explanation does not suit the eloquence of the verse.
The second answer suggests that the terms “great wrongdoer” and “very ignorant” are used for Adam (peace be upon him) in their literal meanings — but this too does not seem fitting.
The better explanation is that the intended meaning of the “trust” is the responsibility appropriate to each creation. The heavens, earth, and mountains — for which Allah the Exalted created them with certain functions and benefits — and similarly humans, for them the trust refers to the responsibility of the legal rulings (shar‘i duties) suitable to their nature.
So, the heavens, earth, and mountains refused to bear this trust, as seen in Surah Fussilat (41:11) and Surah Hajj (22:18), while most humans fell short in fulfilling this trust. Therefore, he is a wrongdoer and ignorant. Based on this interpretation, “bearing” is interpreted as “betraying” the trust. This is the explanation narrated by Qurtubi and other commentators from al-Zajjāj.
[73] This speaks about the trust and mentions the outcome for both sides.
It relates to the concept of bearing the trust — meaning, the result of betrayal is that the betrayers will be punished: those who committed betrayal secretly, which refers to the hypocrites, and those who committed it openly, which refers to the polytheists.