Yaʿlā (1) said: “This is the explicit view reported from Aḥmad. The Shaykh (2) held that the Qāḍī was mistaken about Aḥmad’s position; rather, one should say, ‘Allah knows best concerning what they would have done.’” This is a clash in transmission, and the one who has preserved a report is evidence against the one who has not. For that reason al-Muntahā and other works adopt the Qāḍī’s opinion categorically. The question itself has several viewpoints, and the reports appear, on the surface, to conflict.

Aḥmad (3) said: “I follow the Prophet’s statement, ‘Allah knows best what they would have done.’” He (5) added: “Ibn ʿAbbās used to say, ‘Their parents turn them into Jews or Christians,’ until he heard the ḥadith, ‘Allah knows best what they would have done,’ so he abandoned his earlier view.” Aḥmad (6) likewise said: “We transmit these ḥadiths exactly as they have come and do not say anything further.”

He (7) was asked about two Zoroastrians (majūs) who regard their child as a Muslim, and the child dies at the age of five. He replied: “He is to be buried in the Muslims’ cemetery,” citing the Prophet’s words, “It is his parents who make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.” (8) In other words, because these parents did not make him a Magian, he remained upon the fiṭrah (innate disposition). This is mentioned in al-Sharḥ. And he said in Aḥkām