Nor does this mean merely that the natural disposition is more receptive to this than to anything else. Likewise, every newborn is born with a love for the foods and drinks suited to his body, and so craves the milk that suits him.

This is an instance of what Allah Most High says:

“Our Lord is He who gave each thing its form and then guided it.”

And His words:

“Who created and proportioned, and Who ordained and guided.”

He, glorified be He, created living creatures with an innate guidance to seek what benefits them and ward off what harms them. This love and aversion then develop gradually according to their needs.

Yet many bodies may subsequently be affected by something that corrupts the sound nature and healthy habits with which they were born.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said:

“As for the scholars’ differing views concerning the natural disposition mentioned in this hadith and others like it, one group held that the natural disposition here means the constitution with which a newborn is created, through which he knows his Lord. It is as though he said: ‘Every newborn is born with a constitution through which he comes to know his Lord when he reaches the stage of understanding.’ He means a constitution unlike that of beasts, whose constitution does not enable them to attain such knowledge.”