Which came first, faith or disbelief?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : The questioner asks: Which came first, faith or disbelief?
Answer : Disbelief is the first, because Allah the Exalted says:[Al-Ahzab 33:72] His statement that he was oppressive and ignorant indicates that the default state of the human being is oppression and ignorance. However, every newborn is born upon the fitrah (the innate natural disposition). If he is born upon the fitrah, his parents or those who are with him and in his company turn him away from this fitrah toward Judaism or Christianity until he declares it, may Allah protect us from that. So the default is that every newborn is born upon the fitrah, but in terms of action and appearance, the default is that he is not a believer. For this reason, we command him and say, "Believe." If he does not do so, we rule that he is a disbeliever.
Answer : Disbelief is the first, because Allah the Exalted says:
Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant.
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[40 من 216] أيهما أسبق الإيمان أم الكفر؟!! الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.