Quran has made it very clear that no other religion except...

Quran has made it very clear that no other religion except Islam will be accepted by Allah Taala on the Day of Judgment. And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. (3:85) Does it mean that all non-Muslims are basically unfit and not eligible for Jannat by vir tue of their birth? And that all Muslims have a reserved seat in Jannat just because they were born in a Muslim family.

If this is true, then all non-Muslims would plead on the Day of Judgment: "O, God, You are Just and Impartial: what is our fault if we are a non-Muslim. We were born in a non-Muslim family by Your will and not by our choice. We learned and practiced the religion of our father because it was taught by our parents. This is why we were Hindu, or Christian or Jews and died as non-Muslims".

This appeal will take a solid ground if we assume a fittingly parallel case where the neighbor of any non-Muslim is a Muslim just because he was born in a Muslim family. If that Muslim is considered eligible to enter Jannat just because he was brought up in an Islamic environment and died as a Muslim. Then a question would arise: For what reason that non-Muslim is being punished and his Muslim neighbor is being rewarded when they both have simply followed the religion of their respective fathers.

Generally a child embraces the religion of his forefathers. i.e., a Hindu is Hindu because his father was Hindu, a Christian is Christian because his parents were Christians, and also a Muslim is Muslim because his father and mother were Muslims. So why a non-Muslim should be punished and a Muslim should get reward when initially they all have no contribution in choosing the right or wrong religion.This is a question which has confused many people.

Apparently it seems to be a valid question, but this argument is based on a misconception. We have a very wrong conception that all those who are born in a Muslim family are Muslims and those who are born in a non-Muslim family are basically unable to be a Muslim. This is not true. The fact is that, whether a person is a born Muslim or non-Muslim by birth, he has an inborn capability to identify the truth.

Quran has made it clear that every person has been taught the basic truths before his birth so that he should not give any such excuse that he was born in a Non-Muslim family or he was completely unaware of the whole situation.