dug it first”—that is, “I began it.”’ …

“They also cited what is narrated from ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, in his supplication: ‘O Allah, Compeller of hearts according to their natural disposition, whether wretched or felicitous.’”

I say:

What this view really amounts to is that every newborn is born in accordance with Allah’s prior knowledge of what he will become. Yet it is well known that the same is true of all created beings. All animals are born in accordance with Allah’s prior knowledge concerning them, and trees are created in accordance with His prior knowledge concerning them. Thus, every created being would be created upon the natural disposition.

Furthermore, if that were the intended meaning, his words,

“Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian,”

would have no meaning. According to this view, the parents would merely have brought about in him the very natural disposition upon which he was born. There would then be no distinction between making him a Jew or a Christian, instructing him in Islam and teaching it to him, or teaching him any other craft, since all of that falls within Allah’s prior knowledge.

Moreover, his comparison with an animal that is born whole and subsequently mutilated shows that the parents changed what the child was born upon.

Furthermore, his words, “Upon this religion,” and his words, “Indeed, I created