or for committing any prohibited act, let alone any form of disbelief in Allah.

If a poor upbringing were a valid excuse for any of this, then the children of Jews, Christians, and others would be excused for adopting Judaism or Christianity. No Muslim would say this. Whoever says it is a disbeliever; he must be instructed and called upon to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he must be put to death as an apostate.

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, is reported to have said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Every child is born upon the natural disposition; then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian, just as an animal gives birth to its young intact. Do you see any mutilated among them?”

Abū Hurayrah would then say: Recite, if you wish: “The natural disposition upon which Allah created mankind. There is no changing Allah’s creation” [al-Rūm: 30] (1).

Allah Most High also says:

“Rather, they say, ‘We found our forefathers following a religion, and we are guided by following in their footsteps’” [al-Zukhruf: 22].

In conclusion, I ask Allah to keep our hearts steadfast upon His religion, to make faith beloved to us and adorn it in our hearts, to make disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to us, and to make us among the rightly guided. He, Most High, indeed hears supplication. May Allah bless our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions, and grant them peace.