RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CONVERSION

individual. This feeling turns an ordinary man into a superman. It is such supermen who cross the ocean, who scale mountains, and who by their heroic character let history enter a new age. Today human history is once again facing a deadlock and is in need of such people. Charged with new human power, they will give a strong push to human history to enter a new and better age. Conversion in Islam During his 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) 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 The feeling of having discovered some unknown truth, awakens the dormant powers of the individual.