and said:

“There is no altering Allah’s creation.”

Humayd al-A‘raj reported that ‘Ikrimah said it referred to castration. Hafs ibn Ghiyāth also narrated from Layth that Mujāhid said it referred to castration.”

[Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary]

I say: Both interpretations have been reported from Mujāhid and ‘Ikrimah, for there is no contradiction between them. As Allah Most High says:

“I will surely command them, and they will slit the ears of cattle; and I will surely command them, and they will alter Allah’s creation.”

Thus, changing the religion upon which Allah created His servants is an alteration of His creation. Castration and cutting off ears are also alterations of His creation.

This is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, likened one to the other when he said:

“Every child is born with the natural disposition. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian, just as an animal gives birth to offspring whole and sound. Do you find any among them mutilated?”

The former alter religion, while the latter alter physical form through mutilation and castration. The former changes the state in which a person’s soul was created, while the latter changes the state in which his body was created.

Know that when the Qadariyyah began citing this hadith in support of their false doctrine, people began interpreting it in ways that deprived it of its implications. The Qadariyyah, among the Mu‘tazilah and others, say: Every child is born upon Islam, and Allah does not lead anyone astray; rather, his parents lead him astray.

[The hadith is evidence against the Mu‘tazilah and similar theologians]

The hadith is evidence against them in two respects: