Tafsir of At-Tur 52:21

Surah At-Tur (The Mount): Verse 21

{وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَاتَّبَعَتْهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُم بِإِيمَانٍ أَلْحَقْنَا بِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُم مِّنْ عَمَلِهِم مِّن شَيْءٍ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ}

"And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith—We will join with them their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds. Every person is a pledge for what he has earned."

The First Subtle Point: The compassion of parenthood, abundant in this world, is equally present in the Hereafter. Allah comforts His servants by assuring them that He will not let them be separated from their children but will gather them together.

• Addressing a potential contradiction: Some verses suggest that Allah consoles parents regarding their children (and vice versa), and a righteous parent in Paradise will not be distressed by a child consigned to the Fire.
  • Resolution: A young child who finds a good father figure in this world has not encountered anything to contradict that inherent goodness. This is why Allah initially joins the child to the parent in Islam in this world while the child is young. Once the child matures, they become independent. If the child later chooses disbelief, they are attributed to their own actions, not their father's. This is because, in religious terms (Shari'ah), Islam is like a father to Muslims, as stated: {The believers are but brothers} (Al-Hujurat: 10). The term ikhwah (brothers) here implies kinship through birth/lineage, while the plural form implies brotherhood through friendship and love. Therefore, disbelief is considered a 'father' in terms of sensory perception and custom. If one's religion opposes their father's religion, they acquire a different religious 'father' according to the Law.
• This verse serves as a guide for parents: nothing should distract them from showing compassion to their children. It would be extremely ugly for a person to be preoccupied with enjoying the garden with beloved companions while neglecting to secure sustenance for their children. How much more so would the people of Paradise, enjoying the Hur al-'Ayn (beautiful companions), be distracted from their children? Allah comforts their hearts by saying, {We will join with them their descendants}.
• This principle also applies to the dissolute person who wastes his wealth on forbidden things while leaving his children begging from the mean and the noble. We seek refuge in Allah from this.
• This also indicates that whoever bequeaths lawful wealth to his children will have that counted as charity for him. This is why a sick person is not permitted to dispose of more than one-third of their wealth.

The Second Subtle Point: The statement {And whose descendants followed them in faith} should be evidence that in the Hereafter, we join them [the descendants] to the parents. In this world, adherence to means (causes/effort) is more prevalent. Allah does not customarily send food down from the sky directly to a person; rather, they must exert effort in farming, grinding, and kneading. In the Hereafter, however, this provision will be given without effort, as a reward for the effort exerted previously. This should be clear evidence that Allah will join the child to the parent even if the child did not perform righteous deeds, just as the child followed the parent, even if the child did not testify or believe in anything [while very young].

The Third Subtle Point: Regarding the phrase {with faith}: Allah attaches the child to the parent in faith, but He does not attach the child to the parent in disbelief. The evidence is that if a disbeliever embraces Islam, his children are ruled to be Muslim. Conversely, if a Muslim apostatizes (may Allah forbid), his child is not ruled to be a disbeliever.

The Fourth Subtle Point: In this world, the phrase used is {We followed them} (implying the children followed the parents), but in the Hereafter, it is {We joined them with faith}. This is because, in this world, the young child cannot fully grasp the status of the one they follow; they are merely followers, and the father is the origin, due to the merit of the striver over the non-striver. However, in the Hereafter, when Allah joins the child to the parent by His grace, the child is given a rank equal to that of the father.

The Fifth Subtle Point: The phrase {And We will not deprive them} is a comfort to their hearts, removing the misconception that the father's reward is divided between the parent and the child. Rather, the father receives the reward for his deeds through the bounty of his striving, and the children receive a similar reward as a grace and mercy from Allah.

The Sixth Subtle Point: The use of {of their deeds} and not {of their reward}. The statement {And We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds} indicates that their deeds remain as they were, and the reward remains attached to the deed, with an increase. This points to the preservation of the deed that carries a great, increased reward returning to the doer. If Allah had said, "We will not deprive them of their reward," it could imply that the reward is given even for the smallest thing, as everything Allah gives for a deed is a complete reward. Furthermore, if He had said "of their reward," it might suggest that Allah gave the complete reward for an incomplete deed, and gave a great reward, even though the deed belonged to both the father and the child. This leads to several issues:

Issue 1: To what is the phrase {And those who believed} connected (as an object of conjunction)?

• Answer: It is connected to His statement {Indeed, the righteous} (At-Tur: 17).

Issue 2: If this is the case, why was the phrase {And those who disbelieved} repeated? The meaning could have been achieved by saying, "We joined their descendants to them" after {And We married them to pure companions} (At-Tur: 20), making the structure: "And We married them and joined their descendants to them."

• Answer: There is a benefit in the repetition. The Muttaqūn (righteous) are those who guard against polytheism and sin, meaning they believed and did righteous deeds. Here, He mentions {And those who disbelieved} (implying those who lacked faith). If the child possesses faith, they are among the people of Paradise. Even if the father commits a major or minor sin, the child is not punished for it; only the father is held accountable. Sometimes, the son may even enter Paradise before the father.
• A conceptual subtlety: It is reported in narrations that a young child intercedes for their father, which is an indication of recompense/reward.

Issue 3: Is another connection possible?

• Answer: Yes, it is possible that {And those who believed} is connected to {pure companions (Hur 'Ayn)} (At-Tur: 20). The meaning would be: "We married them to pure companions, meaning We paired them with them, and with those who believed," referring to His statement {brothers, facing each other on thrones} (Al-Hijr: 47). This means Allah gathered their company with spouses, brothers, and children by saying {And We joined them}. Al-Zamakhshari mentioned this view, but the first view is better and sounder.
• Addressing a potential objection: If this view is correct, how can the past tense be used ("We joined them") when Allah has already paired them?
• Answer: The past tense is valid for {And We married them} based on what Allah mentioned regarding their creation from the day He created them, even if the time of their actual union is delayed.

Issue 4: The word for descendants is read in two ways in the two instances: dhurriyyātihim (plural) and dhurriyyatahum (singular). Is there a third possibility?

• Answer: Yes, a conceptual one, not a linguistic one. A believer's descendants follow him in faith, even if they do not physically exist, meaning if he had a thousand children, they would be considered followers in faith by ruling (hukman). However, the joining (in Paradise) is not merely by ruling; it is a reality (haqiqah) concerning those who actually exist. Therefore, the follower (descendant) is more general than the one being joined (the existing one), so the plural is used for the follower, and the singular for the one joined.

Issue 5: What is the benefit of the indefinite form of īmān (faith) in {followed them in faith}?

• Answer: It is either for specification or indefiniteness. It could mean: "We joined their descendants to them with a sincere, complete faith," OR it could mean: "We joined them with some faith," implying that complete faith might not exist in the child. The evidence is that if a person has a young child, the child's faith is ruled upon [as valid]. If the child grows up, expresses disbelief, and denies the following, there is a difference of opinion: some say he is not an apostate because he did not truly follow, while others say he is an apostate because he disbelieved after his faith was established, like an original Muslim. This difference shows that his faith was considered strong. These two views were mentioned by Al-Zamakhshari.
• Another possibility: The tanwīn (indefinite marker) might be a substitute for the possessive pronoun (iḍāfah), as in {some by others} (Al-Baqarah: 251) and {And to all, Allah has promised the best} (An-Nisā': 95). The intended meaning is: "We joined their descendants by means of faith," because the following is not due to just any faith, but the faith of the fathers. The iḍāfah (if used) would restrict the faith, implying it is not faith in general. Saying {with faith} suggests an iḍāfah to them, like {But their faith was of no benefit to them when they saw Our wrath} (Ghafir: 85), where the attributed faith was nullified. By cutting off the iḍāfah while intending it, Allah indicates that it is a true faith. The tanwīn serves as a substitute to show that only the faith of the fathers guarantees security in this world. This is a sound interpretation.

{كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ} "Every person is a pledge for what he has earned."

• Al-Wāḥidī stated that this reverts to mentioning the people of the Fire, as they are held in pledge in the Fire. The believer, however, is not held in pledge, as Allah says: {Every soul is a pledge for what it has earned, except the companions of the right} (Al-Muddaththir: 38-39). This is the view of Mujāhid.
• Al-Zamakhshari said that {Every person is a pledge for what he has earned} is general for everyone, pledged to Allah by their earning. If they earn good, their neck is freed; otherwise, they remain bound by the pledge. The apparent meaning is that it is general for everyone.
• Another interpretation: The word rahīn (pledge) could be an active participle (fā'il), meaning "pledging" or "remaining." In this sense, it means: Every person remains eternally bound by what they have earned. If they do good, they remain eternally in Paradise; if they do evil, they remain eternally in the Fire.
• We have previously mentioned that in this world, the permanence of actions is tied to the permanence of the entities (substances), as accidents only subsist within a substance. In the Hereafter, the permanence of entities is tied to the permanence of actions, because Allah preserves their deeds, as they are among the enduring good deeds (Al-Bāqiyāt As-Sāliḥāt), and what is with Allah remains, and what remains endures with its doer.

{وَأَمْدَدْنَاهُم بِفَاكِهَةٍ وَلَحْمٍ مِّمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ} "And We will provide them with fruits and meat of whatever they desire."