Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
Islam and Conversion
Conversion in Islamic thought is not synonymous with proselytism in the formal sense. It is an event which takes place in a person’s life as a result of intellectual revolution or spiritual transformation. It is not simply leaving one religious tradition for another. The Islamic ideal of conversion is for the individual to discover the truth after an exhaustive search for it and then by his own choice, abandon one religion for another.
During his final phase in 6 A.H., Prophet Muhammad sent letters to the neighbouring rulers of his time, by which they were directly invited to accept the message of Islam. For instance, in his letter to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius I, the Prophet wrote these words: “Accept Islam and you will be blessed with peace.” Similarly at any gatherings which took place in Makkah, the Prophet would make a point of going to that place and address the assembled people thus: “O people, say there is no god but God and you will attain God’s grace.”
At first glance this was an invitation to people to change their religion. But the study of the Quran tells us that it was in actual fact an invitation to a transformation in thinking, and not a change of religion in the simple sense. In the first phase of Islam, some Arab Bedouins had accepted Islam just by reciting the kalima, the creed of Islam, while they had not undergone any change in character at a deeper level. The Quran admonished them in strong terms:
The Arabs of the desert say ‘We believe.’ Say. “You have not believed yet; but rather say, ‘We have accepted Islam, for the true faith has not yet entered into your hearts.’”(49:14).
From this we learn that conversion according to Islam means a thorough transformation of the person and not just a change of religion in the everyday sense.
There is a formal method of religious conversion prevalent among the Jews and Christians known as baptism. In this ritual ceremony, the convert is dipped in water. The hue of water considered a symbol of purity, and their priests believe that dipping someone in pure clean water purifies him, and he is thus converted to a new religion. But pouring water outwardly does not purify a person, for the attainment of purity necessitates a transformation of the total human personality. The convert is suffused with the hue of God and he adopts God’s ways in thought, word and deed.
As the Quran puts it:
We take on God’s own dye—and who has a better dye than God’s? And we are His worshippers. (2:138).
The Quran refuses to give its seal of approval to conversions which are mere formalities. In ancient Madinah there was the case of about three hundred people having become Muslims by reciting the Islamic creed. To all intents and purposes, they even said their prayers, and fasted, but they did all this in a hypocritical manner, paying only lip service: their inner state did not correspond to their outward pronouncements. They claimed allegiance to Islam by word of mouth but as regards the state of their hearts, the Islamic spirit was lacking. The Quran branded the ‘Islam’ of such people as a falsity:
When the hypocrites come to you, they say:
‘We bear witness that you are God’s apostle.’ God knows that you are indeed His Messenger, and God bears witness that the hypocrites are lying. (63:1)
What is meant by true religious conversion is illustrated by an incident in which some verses from the Quran were read to a gathering of Christians. About seventy of them were so deeply moved that they abandoned their ancestral religion and converted to Islam. As the Quran puts it: When they listen to that which was revealed to the Messenger, you will see their eyes filled with tears as they recognize its truth. They say: ‘Lord, we believe. Count us among Your witnesses. Why should we not believe in God and in the truth that has come down to us? Why should we not hope for admission among the righteous?’ (5:83-84)
Similarly, the Quran speaks of true believers “as those whose hearts are filled with awe at the mention of God, and whose faith grows stronger as they listen to His revelations. They are those who put their trust in their Lord, pray steadfastly, and spend of that which We have given them. Such are the true believers. They shall have degrees with their Lord and shall be forgiven by Him, and a generous provision shall be made for them.” (6:2-4)
This shows that religious conversion in actual fact is the result of a realization. When the individual’s search for truth finds a convincing answer, it is such a profound experience that his heart is intensely moved. His eyes are filled with tears. His whole existence is moulded in the cast of truth. It is then that he emerges a new and altogether different person, having undergone a transformation.
That is why the Quran uses no synonym for conversion. To express the act of conversion, other more meaningful words have been used, for instance, the dawah mission (the communication of the message to others) of Islam finds mention in the Quran in these words:
A light has come to you from God and a glorious Book with which He will guide to the paths of peace those that seek to please Him. He will lead them by His will from darkness to the light; He will guide them to a straight path. (5:15-16)
Those who enter the fold of Islam after being influenced by their study of the Quran, have been thus described in the Quran:
Is then he who knows that what has been revealed to you by your Lord is the truth, like him who is blind? Truly, none will take heed but the wise. (13:19)
According to this verse, the real conversion is one which has taken place when the convert is aware that he has entered the phase of gnosis and has left behind the phase of ignorance. That is why a tradition of the Prophet speaks of the period prior to Islam as a period of ignorance.
Similarly, the difference between a believer and a non-believer has been alluded to in the Quran in the context of life after death: ‘Can the dead man whom We have raised to life and given a light with which he may be guided among men, be compared to him who blunders about in a darkness from which he will never emerge?’ (6:123)
This same reality has been expressed in different ways in the Quran, for instance, by the simile of the earth. When the rains come, the fertile earth blooms, becoming green with vegetation. ‘Good soil yields fruit by God’s leave. But poor and scant are the fruits which spring from barren soil. Thus we show our signs to those who render thanks.’ (7:58)
Then there is the parable of the tree:
Do you not see how God compares a good word to a good tree whose root is firm with its branches in the sky, yielding its fruit every season by God’s leave? God gives parables to men so that they may become mindful. But an evil word is like an evil tree torn out of the earth, and has no stability. God will strengthen the faithful with His steadfast word, both in this life and in the Hereafter. He leaves the wrongdoers in error. God accomplishes what He pleases. (14:24-27)
These verses from the Quran tell us the difference between one who has found the truth and one who has failed to do so. The latter is like the shrub growing on the upper surface of the soil: it is short-lived, either vanishing on its own or being pulled out, and is of no use to mankind. The former resembles a profitable, fruitful tree putting its roots deep down into the earth. It seems that it is for the earth and the earth is for it. Receiving sustenance from the earth as well as the atmosphere, it benefits people in many ways. Rooted as it is in the earth, it has a desirable and meaningful existence.