The Follower of the Fetus in Religion When Its Parents Differ

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if a fetus’s father is a believer and his mother is a People of the Book, or vice versa, and he dies in his mother’s womb, which religion does this fetus follow?

Answer:
The child follows the better of his two parents in religion; the child follows the better of his two parents in religion. So if his father is a Jew and his mother is a Zoroastrian or a polytheist, he is considered a Jew, following the better of his two parents in religion. And if it is the reverse, his father is a polytheist and his mother is a People of the Book, then he is a People of the Book, because the People of the Book are better than the polytheists, so he follows the better of his two parents in religion. Yes.