At-Tur · Makki · ayah 21 of 49

At-Tur 52:21

وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَٱتَّبَعَتْهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُم بِإِيمَـٰنٍ أَلْحَقْنَا بِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَمَآ أَلَتْنَـٰهُم مِّنْ عَمَلِهِم مِّن شَىْءٍ ۚ كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍۭ 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.[1554] Every person, for what he earned, is retained.[1555]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah raises believing children to their parents' rank so the family is whole again, and the parents lose nothing by it: grace can be shared, guilt cannot.

A reflection

Now everyone is here

In a care home, an elderly woman asks every visitor the same question. Where are my children? The staff are kind; they tell her they are coming. One Sunday her son walks in with his own grown-up children behind him. She looks round at them all, and her face settles. Now everyone is here, she says.

That is the longing this ayah answers. Alḥaqnā bihim dhurriyyatahum: We will join their offspring to them. The commentaries explain it with a saying preserved from the Companions: Allah raises the believer's offspring to his rank, even if they were below him in deeds, so that his eye may be cooled by them. One of the leading early commentators judged this the meaning closest to the plain sense of the ayah.

A classical theologian adds something tender. The tenderness of a parent, he says, is as strong in the next life as in this one. So Allah soothes the hearts of His servants by promising He will not leave them grieving for their children, but will gather them together.

Think about what that means. Paradise, with all its gardens and couches and fruit, is still not complete for a parent if a child is missing. Allah knows that. He does not tell parents to forget their children amid the delights. He brings the children to them.

For anyone who has lost a child, or been separated from family by distance, illness or death, this ayah is a place to rest. The gathering is promised. The commentaries preserve a report that a man entering the Garden will ask after his parents, his wife and his children, and will say: Lord, I worked for myself and for them. Whatever the strength of that report, the ayah itself carries the same promise.

Today, call one member of your family you have not spoken to in a while. Practise being gathered.

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.