Religious conversion

Religious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the convert's previous beliefs; in some cultures (e.g. Judaism) conversion also signifies joining an ethnic group as well as adopting that group's religious beliefs. Conversion requires internalization of the new belief system. Proselytizing is the act of trying to convert another individual from the convertee's religion to the converter's religion.

Conversion to Islam

::Also see List of converts to Islam

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One becomes a Muslim by believing that Allah (Arabic for God) is the only God and that Muhammad is His messenger. A person is considered a Muslim from the moment he sincerely makes this witness, the shahada. Of course a new Muslim has to familiarize himself/herself with the religion, the belief, and the practices of Islam, but there is no formal requirement for that. It is a personal process; acceptance of all of that is taken to follow from the original statement, since all of Islam is considered to derive from either divine inspiration, in the form of the Qur'an, or prophetic example, in the form of the hadith and sunna of Muhammad.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Allah - Arabic - God - Muhammad - Shahada - Islam - Qur'an - Hadith - Sunna

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One of the important doctrines of Islam is "la ikraha fi aldeen (Quran, 2:256)", meaning "no compulsion (or coercion) in religion". This implies that no spouse can coerce his or her spouse into religion, no nation can coerce another nation or individuals to change their religion, and so on. The doctrine is stated in such general (or blanket) terms that it can also influence the policies of an Islamic nation towards two challenging parties one being coerced into the other's religion.

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In Islamic culture there is no such label or word found that means convert, probably since new converts to Islam soon found their way to mainstream or even leadership ranks among Muslims. One example to this is the family of the late Iqbal of Pakistan. In other words, there was no need for the label in dealing with the new comers.

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