Al-Marwazī said:

‘Ahmad ibn Hanbal used to hold this view, but later abandoned it.’

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said:

‘The reports Mālik included in his Muwatta’, in the chapters on divine decree, indicate that his position on this matter was along these lines.’”

I say:

The imams of the Sunnah mean that people will ultimately attain the faith or disbelief that Allah already knew they would attain, as stated in the other hadith:

“The boy whom al-Khidr killed was marked out as a disbeliever on the day he was marked out.”

Here, being marked out means being recorded: that is, he was recorded as a disbeliever, just as the Prophet said:

“His provision, lifespan, deeds, and whether he will be wretched or felicitous are then recorded.”

Allah’s having recorded him as a disbeliever does not imply that he is a disbeliever at birth. Rather, it implies that he will inevitably come to disbelieve. That disbelief is itself the alteration. Likewise, an animal born intact, whose subsequent mutilation had already been determined, was recorded as mutilated through a mutilation that would occur after birth. This does not require it to have been mutilated at birth.

Ahmad’s statements in other answers indicate that, in his view, the natural disposition means: