And the ḥadīth is explicit: whoever hears about the Prophet ﷺ and the message with which he was sent—after it has reached him in the very manner that Allah revealed it—and then still does not believe in him, his destiny is the Fire. There is no difference in this regard between a Jew, a Christian, a Magian, or an irreligious person.

In my view, many disbelievers—were they given the chance to acquaint themselves with the fundamentals, beliefs, and acts of worship brought by Islam—would hasten to enter it in droves, just as happened at the outset. How I wish that some Muslim states would send to the Western lands callers to Islam who truly know the religion as it is, are aware of the superstitions, innovations, and fabrications pinned on it, and can therefore present it properly to those they invite. Such callers must be grounded in the Qur’an and the sound Sunnah and possess some command of the common foreign languages. People with that combination are exceedingly rare, almost non-existent, so the matter demands significant preparation. Perhaps they will do it.

158 — “Were it not that you would stop burying one another, I would have asked Allah to let you hear the punishment of the grave as He has let me hear it.”

Imām Aḥmad said (3/201): “Yazīd narrated to us; Ḥumayd informed us, from Anas: ‘The Prophet ﷺ passed by some palm-trees belonging to the Banū al-Najjār and heard a sound. He asked, “What is that?” They said, “The grave of a man who was buried in the Age of Ignorance.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then…,’ and he mentioned the report.”