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What is the sin of the buried infant in entering Hellfire, given that there are two hadiths concerning her, one stating: "The burier and the buried infant are in the Fire," and the other stating: "The burier and the buried infant are in the Fire, unless the burier embraces Islam and submits"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Imam Ahmad narrated the hadith: "The female infanticide and the girl buried alive are in the Fire, unless the female infanticide embraces Islam, then Allah may forgive her." This hadith includes a story about Umm Mulaykah, about whom the Prophet was asked. Some have found this hadith problematic in light of the verses stating that no bearer of burdens shall bear another's burden. Scholars have responded that this hadith pertains to a specific case, namely a pagan female infanticide and a pagan girl buried alive, and that the Prophet knew through revelation that the destiny of this particular girl buried alive was the Fire, and that it is not a general ruling. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Ibn al-Qayyim, and al-Albani adopted this view, holding that the hadith was given in response to a specific inquirer about a specific case.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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