myself? I do not know. I tell you: it is Muslim, as you see.’

Then he said to me, ‘Anyone who says, “Every child is born upon the natural disposition,” also considers the original natural disposition upon which mankind was created.’

I asked him, ‘Then what is the original natural disposition? Is it the religion?’

He said to me, ‘Yes.’

Some people thus appeal to the original natural disposition alongside the Prophet’s statement (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):

“Every child is born upon the natural disposition.”

I said to Abū ‘Abd Allāh, ‘Then what do you say, so that I may know your position?’

He replied, ‘I say: “He is upon the original natural disposition.”’)

His answer that the child is upon the original natural disposition, together with his statement that this is the religion, agrees with the position that the child is upon the religion of Islam.

As for Ahmad’s answer that the child is upon the wretchedness or happiness for which he was created—a position that Muhammad ibn Nasr mentioned he had held and then abandoned—al-Khallāl said:

(Muhammad ibn Yahyā al-Kahhāl informed me that he said to Abū ‘Abd Allāh, ‘“Every child is born upon the natural disposition”—what does this mean?’

He replied, ‘It is the natural disposition upon which Allah created mankind: wretched or happy.’)