when the offspring believe, they are joined to their fathers in Paradise and share their rank even though they did not perform the same deeds. In other words, the descendants gain from the deeds of someone else. The Exalted said, “Those who believe, and whose descendants follow them in faith – We shall join their descendants with them, and We shall not deprive them of anything of their own deeds” (al-Tur 52:21). This noble verse clearly shows that children are attached to their parents and raised to their parents’ levels even when the children’s deeds fall short of their parents’ deeds. The apparent sense is that they profit from someone else’s work and striving, whereas the first verse teaches that a person benefits only from his own striving.

The scholars have offered several replies to reconcile the two:

1. The first verse – “And that there is nothing for man except what he strives for” – is unrestricted, while the second verse – “We shall join their descendants with them” – is restricted. As established in the science of legal methodology, an unrestricted text is to be interpreted in light of a restricted one.

2. The first verse states that a person owns nothing but his own striving and that only his own effort benefits him; it does not, however, deny that he may still benefit from the deeds of others without owning them. Thus the first verse concerns ownership, whereas the second concerns benefit. A person can indeed profit from another’s deed even though he does not own it, which is why charity given on his behalf, seeking forgiveness for him, and supplication made for him all help him after his death. Benefiting (inti​fāʿ) is distinct from ownership (milk); the first verse addresses one matter and the second another, so there is no contradiction between them.