Section

As for the second kind of the fortunate followers (1): they are the believers’ children who were never subject to legal responsibility in the worldly life; they simply accompany their parents as dependants. Concerning them, Allah the Exalted says: “And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith, We shall unite their descendants with them, and We shall not deprive them of anything of their deeds. Every person is held in pledge for what he has earned.” (21) (2)

The Almighty has informed us that He will join the offspring to their parents in Paradise just as He caused them to follow their parents in faith. Now, because these descendants performed no deeds by which they might merit those ranks, He said: “We shall not diminish for them anything of their deeds.” The pronoun refers to those who believed, meaning: We have not reduced their deeds in the least; rather, We have elevated their children to their parents’ levels while still granting the parents the full reward for their works. Their station is therefore not that of people who had no deeds at all; instead, We paid them their due rewards and, in addition, united their offspring (3) with them beyond what their own actions alone would warrant (4).

Then, since this attachment of offspring in reward and rank is a gracious favor from Allah, one might imagine that the same attachment of offspring is likewise assured to them (5) with respect to the ruling