A child passed away, and I said, "Blessed is he, a sparrow among the sparrows of Paradise."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Do you not know that Allah created Paradise and created Hell, and created for this one its inhabitants and for that one its inhabitants?"In another narration, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was called to the funeral of a child from the Ansar. I said, "Messenger of Allah, blessed is this one, a sparrow among the sparrows of Paradise. He did no evil, nor did evil reach him."He replied, "Or otherwise, Ayesha. Indeed, Allah created people for Paradise, He created them for it while they were still in the loins of their fathers, and He created people for Hell, He created them for it while they were still in the loins of their fathers."
توفي صبي، فقلت: طوبى له، عصفور من عصافير الجنة، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: أو لا تدري أن الله خلق الجنة، وخلق النار، فخلق لهذه أهلا، ولهذه أهلا. وفي رواية: دعي رسول الله ﷺ إلى جنازة صبي من الأنصار، فقلت: يا رسول الله! طوبى لهذا عصفور من عصافير الجنة، لم يعمل السؤ ولم يدركه، قال: أو غير ذلك يا عائشة إن الله خلق للجنة أهلا، خلقهم لها وهم في أصلاب آبائهم، وخلق للنار أهلا، خلقهم لها وهم في أضلاب آبائهم.
Muslim narrated it in the Chapter on Divine Decree (2662), from Zuhayr bin Harb, who said, Jareer narrated to us, from Ala bin Musayab, from Fudayl bin Amr, from Ayesha bint Talha, from Ayesha, mother of the believers, and he related it as mentioned. The second narration is also found in Muslim, through another route, from Talha bin Yahya, from his aunt Ayesha bint Talha, with her chain of transmission.The scholars say, the Prophet ﷺ only objected to Ayesha's certainty about a specific child being in Paradise, since one cannot be certain about a particular individual, because the true faith of the parents is something unseen, and that is the criterion with Allah, Most High. This was stated by Sindi in his marginal notes on Sunan Nasai. Others said, perhaps he said that before it became known that the children of Muslims are in Paradise, as was mentioned earlier in the Book of Faith.