A person who has never heard of Islam or the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and who has never heard the message in its correct and true form, will not be punished by Allaah if he dies in a state of kufr (disbelief). If it were asked what his fate will be, the answer will be that Allaah will test him on the Day of Resurrection: if he obeys, he will enter Paradise and if he disobeys he will enter Hell.
The evidence (daleel) for this is the hadeeth of al-Aswad ibn Saree', who reported that the Prophet of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "There are four (who will protest) to Allaah on the Day of Resurrection: the deaf man who never heard anything, the insane man, the very old man, and the man who died during the fatrah (the interval between the time of 'Eesaa (Jesus, upon whom be peace) and the time of Muhammad SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)). The deaf man will say, 'O Lord, Islam came but I never heard anything.' The insane man will say, 'O Lord, Islam came but the children ran after me and threw stones at me.' The very old man will say, 'O Lord, Islam came but I did not understand anything.' The man who died during the fatrah will say, 'O Lord, no Messenger from You came to me.' He will accept their promises of obedience, then word will be sent to them to enter the Fire. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, if they enter it, it will be cool and safe for them."
According to another report, he said: "Whoever enters it, it will be cool and safe for him, and whoever does not enter it will be dragged to it." (The hadeeth was reported by Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Hibbaan, and deemed saheeh by al-Albaani, Saheeh al-Jaami', 881).
The Holy Prophet (SAWS) has said: "The example of righteous company and evil company is like that of a perfumeseller and an iron-smith. You will never be harmed by the perfume-seller: either you will purchase some perfume from him, or you smell a sweet fragrance fromhim. And as for the iron-smith, he will either burn your body, or your clothes, or (at least) you will smell a foul odour from him." (Sahih Al-Bukhar, vol. 3, p. 179. no. 314, Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 1383, no. 6361 and Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 3, p. 1349, no. 4811)
Hadrat Ibn 'Abbas (RAA) quoted The Holy Prophet (SAWS)in a Marfu Hadith, "Whosoever adhered to my Sunnah (tradition) during the age of corruption in my Ummah (people), will be rewared equal to (the reward of) one hundred martyrs (Shahids)." (Baihaqi)
