They said: The statements of the early generations also support this. Sa'īd ibn Jubayr reported from Ibn 'Abbās: “Allah raises the descendants of the believers to their rank, even if their deeds fall short of theirs, so that they may delight in their company.” He then recited this verse. Ibn Mas'ūd said concerning this verse: “A man may have prior merit and have descendants. When he enters Paradise, they are raised to his level so that he may delight in their company, even though they have not attained that rank.” Abū Mijlaz said: “Allah brings them together for him, just as he loved for them to be together in this world.” Al-Sha'bī said: “Allah admits the descendants into Paradise by virtue of their fathers’ deeds.”

Al-Kalbī reported from Ibn 'Abbās: “If the fathers are higher in rank than the children, Allah raises the children to their fathers. If the children are higher in rank than the fathers, Allah raises the fathers to their children.” Ibrāhīm said: “They are given rewards equal to those of their fathers, without their fathers’ rewards being diminished at all.”

He said: The soundness of this view is supported by the fact that the two readings are like two verses. In the reading, “And their descendants followed them,” the reference is to adults, to whom the act of following can properly be attributed, as Allah Most High says:

9:100 “And the first forerunners among the Emigrants and the Helpers and those who followed them with excellence.”

In the reading,

52:21 “And We caused their descendants to follow them,”

the reference is to minors whom Allah caused to follow them in faith as a matter of legal status. Thus, the two readings indicate both categories.

I say: It is more evident that “descendants” here refers specifically to minors, lest this imply that later generations and the earliest generations are equal in rank. No such consequence follows in the case of minors, for each man’s young children and descendants are with him at his rank. And Allah knows best.