RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CONVERSION

His Messenger, and God bears witness that the hypocrites are lying.’ (63: 1) 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) Conversion to Islam means a thorough transformation of the person and not just a change of religion in the everyday sense.