associated others with Allah, while we were their descendants who came after them. We followed them in accordance with the ordinary course of human nature, and we had nothing to show us that they were mistaken.”
But if their innate disposition contained what they had testified to—that Allah alone was their Lord—then they possessed something that demonstrated the falsehood of this polytheism: the affirmation of Allah’s oneness to which they had testified against themselves. If they appealed to the natural habit of following their forefathers, the proof against them was their natural, rational disposition, which preceded this habit inherited from their fathers.
As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Every child is born upon the innate disposition; then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.”
Thus, the innate disposition that entails Islam preceded the upbringing to which they appeal.
This implies that the very reason by which they recognize Allah’s oneness constitutes proof of the falsehood of polytheism. Establishing this does not require a messenger, for He made the foregoing a proof against them without one.
This does not contradict His words, Most High:
“We would never punish until We had sent a messenger.”
For the messenger calls people to affirm Allah’s oneness. Yet if the innate disposition contained no rational evidence by which the existence of the Maker could be known, the message alone would not constitute proof against them. Thus, this testimony against themselves includes their acknowledgment that Allah is their Lord and their knowledge of that. This knowledge and testimony are inseparable from every descendant of Adam, and through them Allah Most High establishes His proof for affirming the truthfulness of His messengers.
No one can therefore say on the Day of Resurrection, “I was unaware of this,” or claim that the sin belonged to his polytheist father rather than himself. For he knows that Allah is his Lord, with no partner. He therefore had no excuse for denying the Creator or associating others with Him; rather, he already possessed within himself that which made him deserving of punishment.