Islam and the Quran

general application. They were not meant to be valid for all time to come. That is why the permanent status of the Prophet has been termed: ‘a mercy to all mankind’. (Quran 21:107) In principle, the Quran teaches peace and complete freedom of thought and religion, and does not, to any extent, advocate for the unjust killing of non-believers. Why do most Muslims have a tendency to try to convert people to their religion? Islam does not subscribe to the concept of conversion. It believes that religion is a matter of individual choice. The search for the truth should be every person’s individual effort and the decisions one then takes in the matter of religion is completely personal. The concept of religious conversion is alien to the Quran. It has no basis in the Quran. The Quran speaks of marefat, which means God-realization or the discovery of God. So, the truth is your own discovery, your own realization. It is a personal choice. If you want to know what the purpose of life is, what life and death are about, and so on, you have to study, reflect and discuss with learned people. And after that, you may reach some conclusion. And that is your religion. So, your religion is your own discovery. In religious ‘conversion’, there are two parties: the converter and the converted. But this is not the concept in Islam. In Islam, there is only one party—and that is you. If you want to find the truth, you have to reflect and study on your own. And when you discover something as the truth, you opt for it.