Do those who are born in the Muslim family have any advantage in terms of salvation?

In Islam, we have the answer to that question which is placed before people who believe in different religions. What about those other people who never heard the message of Islam? First and foremost, when people ask how is it fair that you were born in a Muslim family and I was born in a Hindu family and you are going to Paradise because you are Muslim and I am going to Hell because I am Hindu. I did not choose to be born in a Hindu family. You did not choose to be born in a Muslim family. So, where is the fairness in that?

As a Muslim, we have to tell them that Allah is fair simply because being born in a Muslim family does not guarantee one Paradise as Islam cannot be inherited even though a lot of Muslims think today that Islam is inherited like my parents are Muslims, therefore, I am Muslim. On a legal level, according to the external judgment, if your parents were Muslims, you are automatically Muslim but in reality, this is not the case. It is not automatic. Your parents were Saudis, and then yes, you are Saudi. You inherited nationality but you cannot inherit Islam because Islam is a spiritual decision which each and every human being has to make. A decision to submit their wills to Allah and you cannot inherit that. You will have to choose, to accept Allah truly for my Islam to be real. For every human being, they have to make their choices themselves individually.

So, from this perspective, Islam gives no favoritism to people simply because of their birth. The one who is born in a Muslim family, finding real Islam, may find it more difficult than the one who is born in a non-Muslim family because he/she is in a culture/tradition where everybody is doing the same things, they are fasting in Ramadhan, they are praying, they are going for Hajj and so on. So, they just do it like anybody else but inside themselves, they do not really believe. If they were taken out of that environment, you see that Islam is gone just like a jacket which you remove and hang it up. That is the reality. That is why Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said that there are people who will do the deeds of the People of Paradise as it appears to people but they will be from the People of Hell. It is not about the family you are born in. We have to say, yes, in Hell, there will be many who will have the names Muhammad and Fatimah because these are the most common names in the world. Many of them will end up in here.

So, it is not about the name. It is about the decision that each and every human being makes. So that one who is born in a Hindu family or Christian family etc who, when using the intellect that Allah has given them, cause them to recognize that whatever they were believing in and whatever they were following was false because it is so obvious. Then it is easier for them to leave that, find Islam and choose it. This is the reality. It is not about the families we were born in but is the decision that we make and this is the moral principle that Islam propose, where in Islam, Allah is in fact just fair and He does not oppress anyone as He said,

“And your Lord will not be unfair to anyone.”[1]

Reference:

[1] [Qur’an 10:44]