During the prophetic career in Makkah, wherever the Prophet saw a gathering, he would make it a point to address the people thus: ‘O people, say there is no god but God and you will attain God’s grace.

At first glance this may seem an invitation to people to change their religion. But the study of the Quran tells us that it was an invitation to a transformation in thinking, instead of a change of religion.

In the first phase of Islam, some Arab Bedouins had accepted Islam just by reciting the kalimah, or 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 have believed.” Say to them, “You have not believed yet; say rather, “We have accepted Islam, for the true faith has not yet entered into your hearts.” (49:14)

The feeling of having discovered some unknown truth, awakens the dormant powers of the individual.

Conversion to Islam means a thorough transformation of the person and not just a change of religion in the everyday sense. The Quran refuses to give its seal of approval to conversions which are mere formalities. In ancient Madinah about 300 people had become Muslims by reciting the Islamic creed. Apparently, 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 verbal allegiance to Islam, but they lacked the Islamic spirit. The Quran brands 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)

Conversion to Islam means a thorough transformation of the person and not just a change of religion in the everyday sense.

Religious conversion is the result of a realisation. When the individual’s search for truth finds a convincing answer, his heart is intensely moved. His eyes are filled with tears. His whole existence is moulded in the hue of truth. He emerges a new and different person, having undergone a transformation. That is why the Quran uses no synonym for conversion. To express the act of conversion, 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, influenced by their study of the Quran, are described thus:

Can one who knows that what ever has been sent down to you from your Lord is the Truth, be equal to one who is blind? It is only those who are endowed with insight who pay heed. (13:19)

According to this verse, the real conversion takes place when the convert is aware he has entered the phase of gnosis and leaving 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.

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 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, 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 and atmosphere, it benefits people immensely. Rooted as it is in the earth, it has a desirable and meaningful existence.

Religious Freedom in Islam

In 1948 the United Nations gave the world its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a universal charter for individuals as a matter of fundamental human dignity. Article 18 of this declaration reads as follows:

‘Everyone has the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

The real conversion takes place when the convert is aware that he has entered the phase of gnosis and leaving behind the phase of ignorance.

These ideas are in accordance with the principles of Islamic teaching, where man’s intellectual development is firmly believed in and any system which favours intellectual development will, of necessity, uphold freedom of thought. Without this there would be no fruitful development of the human personality.

What is perhaps more important is the Islamic concept of predetermination. Man is born free while every other animate or inanimate object is subservient to God’s will. Nothing in the heavens or on earth, except man, can decide the course of its own existence, this having been eternally predetermined. Everything, save man, must follow the path laid down by God, Islam requires man to make his own quest for truth. He should be fully conscious of this and impose upon himself as religious duty, to find that true nobility of character. External commands are for robots, not for fully mature human beings.

Real, live, human beings can never come into existence in an atmosphere of blinkered constraint. What truly moves the human psyche is the feeling that their achievements have been the result of their own personal deliberations. Their opinions and beliefs are their own. This freedom of choice leads to their development as fully integrated personalities.