disputes, and only a man—Allah knows best about him—would ask about it.’ He said: ‘We pass these hadiths on just as they have come to us and remain silent, saying nothing.’”

Al-Marwazī said: “Abū ‘Abd Allāh said: ‘Bishr ibn al-Sarī asked Sufyān al-Thawrī about the children of the polytheists. He shouted at him, saying: “Boy! Are you asking about this?!”’”

Likewise, Khattāb ibn Bishr and Hanbal reported that ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Shāfi‘ī asked Ahmad about this, and he forbade him from pursuing it. No one ever reported that Ahmad said, “They are in the Fire.”

However, some of his followers, such as Judge Abū Ya‘lā and others, upon hearing his answer, “Allah knows best what they would have done,” assumed that this was the concluding part of a hadith reportedly narrated from Khadījah, may Allah be pleased with her:

“She asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about her children by another husband. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied, ‘They are in the Fire.’ She asked, ‘Without having done anything?’ He replied, ‘Allah knows best what they would have done.’”

They thus supposed that Ahmad had answered by citing the hadith of Khadījah. This is a mistaken attribution to Ahmad. This hadith of Khadījah is a fabricated lie; even the least learned of Ahmad’s companions would not cite such a report as evidence, let alone Imam Ahmad himself.