Recognition of Allah SWT

The question which arises here is: How can all people be expected to trust in the one true Allah SWT, given their varying backgrounds, societies, and cultures? For people to be held accountable for worshipping the one true Allah SWT, they all need to have access to information of him. The final revelation teaches that all human beings have the recognition of the one true Allah SWT imprinted on their souls as a part of their very nature with which they are created.

In the seventh chapter of the Qur'an (Al-A'raaf, verses 172-173), Allah SWT explained that when He created Adam He caused all of Adam's descendants to come into existence and He took a pledge from them saying:

"'Am I not your Lord?' To which, they all replied, 'Yes, we testify to it.'"

Allah then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness that He is their creator and the only true Allah SWT worthy of worship. He said:

"That was in the case you (mankind) should say on the Day of Resurrection, 'Verily we were unaware of all this.'" (Qur'an 7:172)

That is to say, we cannot claim on that Day that we had no idea that Allah was our Allah SWT and that no one told us that we were supposed to worship Allah alone. Allah went on to further explain that:

"It was also in case you should say, 'Certainly it was our ancestors who made partners (with Allah) and we are only their descendants; will You then destroy us for what those liars did?'" (Qur'an 7:173)

Thus, every child is born with a natural belief in Allah SWT and an in-born inclination to worship Him alone. This in-born belief and inclination is called in Arabic the "Fitrah".

The Prophet Muhammad reported that Allah said, "I created my servants in the right religion, but devils made them go astray." The Prophet also said, "Each child is born in a state of Fitrah. Then his parents make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian." If the child were left alone, he would worship Allah SWT in his own way, but all children are affected by the environment. So, just as the child submits to the physical laws which Allah has imposed on nature, in the same way, his soul also submits naturally to the fact that Allah is his Lord and Creator. But, if his parents try to make him follow a different path, the child is not strong enough in the early stages of his life to resist or oppose the will of his parents. In such cases, the religion which the child follows is one of custom and upbringing, and Allah SWT does not hold him to account or punish him for his religion up to a certain stage of his life.