‘O Caliph of the Most Merciful, we are a people
Upright in faith, prostrating morning and evening;
Arabs who acknowledge in our wealth the zakat due to Allah,
Prescribed through revelation.’

This describes upright faith as Islam—a matter entirely clear and beyond doubt.”

He said:

“Among the arguments advanced by those who hold that the natural disposition mentioned in this hadith means Islam is the Prophet’s saying (peace and blessings be upon him), ‘Five practices belong to the natural disposition.’ Another version reads, ‘Ten practices belong to the natural disposition’—meaning the natural disposition of Islam.”

I say:

There is abundant evidence that he meant ‘upon the natural disposition of Islam,’ including the wordings of the hadith found in the Sahīh, such as ‘upon the religion’ and ‘upon this religion.’ Likewise, in the hadith of ‘Iyād ibn Himār, he says, ‘I created all My servants upright in faith,’ and in another version, ‘upright in faith, as Muslims.’ There is also the explanation given by Abū Hurayrah and other transmitters of the hadith, for he knew best what they had heard.

Furthermore, had the natural disposition not meant Islam, they would not then have asked, ‘What about the children of the polytheists who die while still young?’ For if there had been nothing to alter that natural disposition, why would they have asked him?

Eternal knowledge and the like do not change.