Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 134 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:134

تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ ۖ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ ۖ وَلَا تُسْـَٔلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

“That was a nation which has passed on. It will have [the consequence of] what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.”

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Essence

The prophets' generation has passed: their deeds are theirs, yours are yours, and no one will be asked about what another did.

A reflection

The family name opens no doors here

A second-year student is called in about an essay copied almost word for word from a website. He is calm. His grandfather paid for the college library. He mentions this twice. The panel listens politely and suspends him anyway.

This ayah comes right after the scenes of Ibrāhīm and Yaʿqūb charging their sons. Then it closes the door on a certain kind of pride. 'That was a community that has passed. It has what it earned, and you have what you earned.'

A narration-based commentary draws the lesson plainly. Your descent from the prophets and the righteous does not benefit you if you do no good yourselves. Their deeds are theirs; yours are yours. It adds a saying that Sahih Muslim records from the Prophet ﷺ. Whoever is held back by his deeds will not be hurried forward by his lineage.

A rhetorician among the commentators puts it in one sentence. No one benefits from what another earned, whether that person came before him or after.

This was aimed at people who boasted of their forefathers. But it lands on us as well. We may come from a family of scholars, a respected mosque, a pious household. We may know the right names. None of it will be weighed for us.

That can sound harsh, but it is fair. It also means no one else can ruin your account. The Quran does say that believing descendants will be joined with their parents in Paradise (52:21). But it says it of descendants who followed them in faith. The lineage helps those already walking the road themselves.

The question at the gate will not be whose grandson you are. It will be what you carried there yourself.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.