What is the ruling regarding the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance before Islam?

The questioner : The brother says: What is the ruling on the pre-Islamic age of ignorance before Islam? He means the people of the period (ahl al-fatra)?

The Shaykh : The people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are in the same situation as the Muslims today. That is, whoever the call reached, the argument has been established against him; and whoever it did not reach, it has not been established against him. We know from authentic narrations in al-Bukhari and Muslim and others that many of the polytheists before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) died, and yet the Messenger informed that they will be punished. This is only because the call had reached them from Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them both), and from that, they were in a state of inheritance from what they inherited of the religion of Ibrahim. So they used to perform Hajj, circumambulate, and perform 'Umrah. This is because they were not, as many claim today, people of the period (ahl al-fatra). For if they had been people of the period, they would not have been punished, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed.

The questioner : The people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance... they are punished, knowing that the Torah is distorted, so how are they punished in the grave?

The Shaykh : We answered with an answer which I think, if you had reflected upon it, you would not have needed such a question. You want to be long with me a bit. I say: I have answered with an answer which I think, if you had reflected upon it, you would not have needed such a question. I said: Whoever the call reached, among the Muslims today and the disbelieving polytheists before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the argument has been established against him. And whoever the call did not reach, the argument has not been established against him. Do you have an objection to this answer?

The questioner : No

The Shaykh : Fine, and what I said, and the truth... Muslims, perhaps, and I do not say this in pride, do not hear this from anyone else. I say: The situation of those who were in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance is the situation of the Muslims today. Whoever the call reached, among these and those, the argument has been established against him. Why... Muslims? Because many of the Muslims today, the call has not reached them, I mean the call as it was revealed to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Today, the Islamic call has suffered in the minds of many people of distortion what the Jews and Christians suffered in their books. Likewise, the Jews and Christians, if they know what 'Isa (peace be upon him) and Musa were upon regarding the oneness of Allah, and then they contradict and follow the priests and monks, they are naturally punished because they know the truth. But if the truth did not reach them, they are not punished at all, whether they are ancient or recent, because our Lord says: . And when He says: , here are two things we must observe:
The first thing: The intended meaning of the sending of the Messenger is not only the person of the Messenger, but either the person of the Messenger or his call, . For example, the followers who came after the Companions. The Companions, the Messenger came to them and conveyed the message to them. As for their followers, the Messenger did not come to them, but the call came to them. So the meaning of the previous verse is by his person or by his call. I say this so that no one today argues by saying: The Messenger did not come to us. No, the call of the Messenger came to us. This is the first thing that the Muslim should observe when this noble verse reaches his ear.
The second thing: When the call reaches a group or a nation, and it is intended that the argument has been established against them, we must observe that the call reached them sound, free from alteration and falsification. Did you understand? Otherwise, if a nation is reached by a call that is distorted, altered, and changed, these people have not been reached by the call with which the Messenger (peace be upon him) came; this is another call.
Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Here he says: . I wonder, is it according to the reality of his situation, or according to the truth that his enemies describe him with? For example, today, Europeans in Austria, Germany, and others, what do the priests and monks there teach the Western nation about Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? Contrary to his reality, they say: This man loved women and married whatever he desired, and forbade his followers from marrying more than one woman as he married. Naturally, this is a description contrary to the description of the Messenger (peace be upon him) that matches reality. This is what we should observe: that whoever heard the truth about the Messenger, that is like saying: A boy was orphaned, he grew up and was raised an orphan, illiterate, unable to read or write, and lived far from all the vices of the people.
So he did not prostrate to an idol, nor did he steal, nor did he commit unlawful sexual intercourse... etc. And then, suddenly, something called revelation descended upon him, named Jibril, to the end of the story. Then he called the people, and the people began to have movement, activity, and calling. There became disagreement among them, there became fighting, and in the end, he won and established a state. And the light that he brought spread to encompass the whole world.
If this thing were narrated as it happened, all people would have believed in it. But the callers to evil, the callers to falsehood, always describe the righteous man contrary to his reality, out of envy and tyranny from themselves. So the... Jew and Christian who heard the truth about Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and then did not believe, without doubt, entered the Fire. But he heard the opposite of these truths. A man, for example, as we said: loves women, a man who worships the stones of the Ka'bah, like this... So if he did not believe, he never knew the truth. And our Lord on the Day of Resurrection will not say to him: You disbelieved. Why? Because he did not hear about him (peace and blessings be upon him) with his truth as he is. And this reminds us of another hadith that some people misunderstand, even in another context, but there are things where hadiths explain each other. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Whoever saw me, do you think he saw me as I was, or with another attribute? No. He sees him as he was (peace and blessings be upon him), not with another attribute... - start from here and turn like this - whoever saw me in a dream, if a man claimed yesterday, "I saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream," good, if Allah wills. How did you see him? Describe it to me?
He says: I saw a tall man, his beard gray, a white light like this. Tell him: You lied. I saw him in a dream. Tell him: You did not see the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). It is described in his characteristics from the narration of Anas that he did not turn gray, meaning he did not become old. How can you say: I saw him, his beard is white and light comes out of it? This is a lie. So, you did not see the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); this is the view of a person whom Satan prepared for him in the dream to be the Messenger, or he saw another person. He says: I saw the Messenger walking in the road. How did you see him walking? I saw him walking slowly. We tell him: You lied. The Messenger walked with the strength of men. And it is described that when he walked, . I do not know what you call it, a pipe, a tube following the wells, the tube from which water flows. How does it come out confined? When it comes out from the head with full force. Thus, the Companions compared the Messenger when he walked, as if he were being poured from a pipe. He walked with strength. He was also described as . These are his characteristics (peace be upon him). So whoever sees him walking with the walk of the ascetic Sufi, we tell him: You did not see the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And this is a long discussion. The point, as he said here: , he must see him with his truth. Likewise, there, when he said: .