Prophets, martyrs, children in Paradise

Children who die young by God’s decree

When a child dies at the age Allah has decreed for them, they are considered innocent, and Allah grants them Paradise:

📖Sunan Abi Dawud 2521
Hasna’ bint Mu’awiyah reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Prophet is in Paradise, the martyrs are in Paradise, the young children who die are in Paradise, and the infant buried alive is in Paradise.”

This refers to children who die naturally, or by disasters like sickness, earthquakes, or accidents their deaths were decreed by Allah Himself. All such children will be in Heaven.

Exceptions

This does not include cases where the child is killed by someone else:

📖Sunan Abi Dawud 4717
Narrated Ibn Abbas: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about the woman who buried her child alive: “The woman who buried her daughter alive and the girl who was buried – both are in Hell.”

In these cases:

• The death was caused by a human, not directly decreed by Allah.
• Allah created the child and knew what would happen if they had lived longer – whether they would have believed if they had received the scripture.
• Allah recorded the death based on the human action.

Example:
Allah created me, then saw that a person would kill me. He recorded the time and date of my death – caused by a human crime, not His direct decree. Allah also knows, if I had lived and received the scripture, whether I would have believed or not, Thus, for children who die this way, we cannot declare their final status, because Allah’s knowledge encompasses what they would have done if they had lived.

Related Article: Non-Muslim Children and Heaven

📖Quran 16:58-59
“When one of them is given news of the birth of a female, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief. He hides himself from the people because of the evil of which he has been informed…”
This highlights the pre-Islamic injustice toward newborn girls, which Allah corrected and protected.

📖Quran 6:151
“…Do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them…”
This shows Allah’s protection of innocent children.

Final, Perfected Form in the Hereafter

It’s not about the child’s age at death, their stage of life, or the condition of their soul in the grave. This refers only to the final, perfected physical form that Allah grants when they enter Paradise – a form that reflects eternal youth, beauty, and reward, completely independent of their earthly life, natural development, or temporary spiritual state.

• The age of 30- 33 (or the prime youth) is the eternal, perfected body Allah gives them.
• Whether they died as infants, children, or adults, all will appear in this perfected form.
• It’s about the final state in Paradise, not about their earthly age, their death, or their soul’s temporary state before resurrection.

📖Sahih al-Bukhari 1381
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The people of Paradise will enter Paradise hairless, beardless, with their eyes anointed with kohl, aged thirty or thirty-three years.”

So, it’s the body at final entry, not the child’s current state or spiritual form.

• By extension, Allah’s knowledge and power mean He can also adjust the form/age in Hell, so those destined for punishment do not remain as they were in life (child, young, or old). Their form reflects the torment, just as the form in Paradise reflects reward.
• The Hadith shows Allah’s control over creation and form, confirming that the age and body in the Hereafter are not fixed by earthly biology but by His decree.