Abraham enjoined this upon his children, and Jacob did too: “My children, The God has chosen this way of life for you; so do not die except in a state of surrender.”
The previous verse brought Abraham’s way to life in a single statement:
“I have surrendered to the Lord of all worlds.”
Now it says:
“Abraham enjoined this upon his children.”
The pronoun in bihā, “this,” keeps the thread of the passage intact. The same path called “Abraham’s way” in the preceding verses, whose heart was revealed in “I have surrendered to the Lord of all worlds,” is now entrusted to the next generation. Abraham’s essential legacy was not a family title. It was the way of surrender to the Lord of all worlds.
Then comes a name of particular importance in this passage:
“And Jacob too.”
Jacob is Israel, after whom the Children of Israel are named. The Qur’an places him beside Abraham to show that the instruction passed down to the Children of Israel was not a way separate from Abraham’s. Jacob, too, entrusted the same truth to his children.
His words are:
“My children, The God has chosen this way of life for you.”
The precision of the wording matters. It does not say:
Iṣṭafākum — “He has chosen you.”
It says:
Iṣṭafā lakumu d-dīn — “He has chosen the way of life for you.”
The way’s being chosen does not mean the unconditional chosenness of everyone descended from Jacob by blood and ancestry. A few verses earlier, the same boundary was made clear concerning Abraham’s descendants: “My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.” Ancestry can bring an inheritance to a person, but it cannot make them follow that way.
Nor does the instruction end with a religious name:
“So do not die except in a state of surrender.”
No one knows when they will die. In practice, then, these words mean: live in surrender so that whenever death comes, it finds you in that state. Surrender is not something to save for the end of life; it must continue throughout life.
Later, in Aal ‘Imran 3:102, the same words are addressed directly to the believers:
“And do not die except in a state of surrender.”
Abraham and Jacob’s instruction has therefore not remained confined to one family. The same standard is placed once again before those who have believed in Muhammad.
In Ash-Shura 42:13, the Qur’an also places Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad in a single line of continuity. It speaks of the way of life that must be upheld without division within it. This connection shows that what Jacob entrusts to his children is not an ethnic privilege; it continues the same path of service to God.
The lesson for us is simple too. We may have inherited the name “Muslim,” a denomination, a tradition, and many of our beliefs from our families. But Jacob did not offer his children a name as their guarantee; he asked them to remain surrendered until the end. A religious inheritance has value when each person consciously lives it before God. No father can pass down “being surrendered” in place of his child actually surrendering.
The meaning of dīn and islām as surrender, and their distinction from sharīʿah and religious identity, are explored further in Dīn, Islām, and Sharīʿah in the Qur’an.