I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) explaining the verse “As for the youth his parents were people of Faith,” he was created infidel the day when he was created.
Ubayy b. Ka’b told me that the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said : Al-khidr saw a youth playing with boys. He took him by his head and uprooted it. Moses then said : Hast thou slain an innocent person who had slain none.
The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) who spoke the truth and whose word was belief told us the following : The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb, then they become a piece of congealed blood for a similar period, then they become a lump of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends to him an angel with four words who records his provision the period of his life, his deeds, and whether he will be miserable or blessed ; thereafter he breathes the spirit into him. One of you will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Hell and will enter it; and one of you will do the deeds of those who go to hell, so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him, so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise and will enter it.
The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) was asked : Is it known who are those who will go to paradise and those who will go to hell? He said : Yes. He asked : Then what is the good of doing anything by those who act? He replied : Everyone is helped to do for which he has been created.
I said : Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) what happens to the offspring of believers ? He replied : They are joined to their parents. I asked : Messenger of Allah! Although they have done nothing ? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing. I asked : what happens to the offspring of polytheists, Messenger of Allah ? he replied! They are joined to their parents. I asked : Although they have done nothing? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing.
The Prophet (May peace be upon him) was invited to the funeral of a boy who belonged to the ANSAR and I said; Messenger of Allah! This one is blessed, for he has done no evil, nor has he known it. He replied : It may be otherwise, ‘A’ishah, for Allah created Paradise and created those who will go to it, and He created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins; and he created hell and created those who will go to it, and created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins.
Every child is born on Islam, but his parents make him a Jew and a Christian, just as a beast is born whole. Do you find some among them (born) maimed? The people asked : Messenger of Allah! What do you think about the one who died while he was young? He replied : Allah knows best what he was going to do.
Malik was asked : The heretics argue from this tradition against us. Malik said : Argue against them from its last part which goes. The people asked : What do you think about the one who died while he was young? He replied : Allah knows best what he was going to do.