Source: Fatāwā Arkān-e-Islām
Question
What will be the fate of children who die in childhood — both of believing parents and of disbelieving parents?
Answer
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
1. Children of Believers
- They will enter Paradise, because they are considered under the care and status of their believing parents.
- Allah says:
﴿وَالَّذينَ ءامَنوا وَاتَّبَعَتهُم ذُرِّيَّتُهُم بِإيمـنٍ أَلحَقنا بِهِم ذُرِّيَّتَهُم وَما أَلَتنـهُم مِن عَمَلِهِم مِن شَىءٍ كُلُّ امرِئٍ بِما كَسَبَ رَهينٌ﴾
“And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith — We will join them with their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds. Every person is held in pledge for what he earned.”
(Sūrah al-Ṭūr 21)
2. Children of Disbelievers
- These are children born to mushrik (polytheist) or non-Muslim parents.
- The most correct opinion is that Allah knows best what they would have done had they lived.
- In worldly rulings, they follow the status of their parents, but in the Hereafter their matter is left to Allah’s perfect knowledge and justice.
- Evidence: (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Jināʾiz, Bāb mā qīla fī awlād al-mushrikīn, ḥadīth 1384)
Worldly Rulings Regarding Them
They are treated like the disbelievers in worldly matters:
- No ritual washing (ghusl) is given.
- They are not shrouded in the Islamic way.
- No janāzah (funeral prayer) is performed.
- They are not buried in Muslim graveyards.
وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
