Do non-muslim children go to paradise?

If a child from a non-Muslim family dies during infancy or before reaching the age of religious accountability, and the child was never introduced to Islam, there are different opinions reported from the scholars regarding the child’s fate in the Hereafter.

Some scholars have stated that such a child will be in Paradise and will serve the people of Paradise. Others have said that the child will be in Al-A‘raf, the place between Paradise and Hell. Some have held that the child will follow the ruling of his or her parents. Another opinion is that one should refrain from making a definitive judgment regarding this matter and leave it to Allah Almighty.

It is also narrated from Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) that one should refrain from giving a definitive ruling in this matter and entrust the matter to Allah Almighty.

Therefore, one should not definitively state regarding a particular child of non-Muslim parents that the child will certainly enter Paradise or that the child will certainly be in any other particular place. The correct and cautious approach is to entrust the final judgment concerning the child’s fate to Allah Almighty.

Similarly, if a child dies in the mother’s womb, one should not make a definitive judgment regarding the child’s fate merely on the basis that the mother had not accepted Islam, because the child himself or herself was not legally accountable.

And Allah Almighty knows best.