Fatwa ID: 04234

Answered by: Shaykh Umer Khan

Question

Assalamualaikum, When a child who is born dead, does it go to Heaven or Hell? Does the parents' religion matter?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Regarding the stillborn child to Muslim parents, Ibn Kathīr said: "With regard to the children of the believers, there is no dispute among the scholars. al-Qāḍī AbūYaʻlā Ibn Al-Farrā' narrated that Imām Aḥmad said: there is no dispute concerning the fact that they will be among the people of Paradise. This is what is well known among people (i.e., the majority of scholars) and this is what we are definitely sure about, inshā'Allāh" (TafsīrIbn Kathīr, 5/56).

Regarding the stillborn child to non-Muslim parents, there is some difference of opinion, but the majority of scholars believe that they will also be people of Paradise (Al-Tamhīd, 18/96).

Only Allah knows best

Written by Shaykh Umer Khan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham