Are humans born good or evil?

Good. Every human being is born with a pure nature given by God. Only parents, surroundings and one’s own choices lead a person towards good or bad.

Islam gives a clear and hopeful answer to this question. Human beings are born good. At birth they carry the imprint of their Creator, a pure nature that recognises goodness and is drawn to it.

How a child then develops depends greatly on outside influences. The hadith above says that it is the parents who shape a child in one direction or another. The surroundings and many other circumstances also play a part. When a child strays from the good path, these influences often bear a large share of the responsibility.

That people start out good is also a matter of justice. If they were born evil, they could not be held responsible for the evil they do, because they would have had no choice. But since they are given a good start and carry a sense of right and wrong within them, they are responsible for their decisions.

The teaching of reward and punishment rests on this. Whoever gives in to the pressure towards evil will have to give an account. Whoever resists it will be rewarded. The third verse above shows how generous God is in this. The reward for good is always much greater than the consequence of evil.

This is an encouraging message. No one is lost from birth. Every person can find the way back to the good nature in which they were created.