How does one convert to Islam? Is it a choice I can make on my own right now? Are there any rituals involved? I know for example Judaism is more rigorous to be involved in as opposed to Christianity.

I am legitimately interested in This religion and the teachings and philosophies involved. I respectfully request that for the sake of everyone involved and the mods that if you feel the need to troll or employ sarcasm that you please think twice about it.

I understand and appreciate that that majority of members on this site are intellectual western peoples and I respect all of your beliefs. I simply ask that out if that respect that you understand that this is not an area of what is “right or wrong” and simply an inquiry of intelligence. I pray that those that would descend on this topic in a negative manner steel themselves against such impulses.

If you have instead deciding that regardless of my pleadings, you will try to turn this **** into some type of debate, I do not respect you and neither should anybody.

For the most part I don't think there is much ritual attached to the conversion itself. It's a religion that places emphasis on submission to God, religious knowledge and practice. So the correct place to start is probably to study it and find which variant appeals to you.

After that you should see an Imam and he / she will probably help you further. Religion is more than personal beliefs.

My advice would be not to do it, but then again I don't like religion in general. I find their buildings pretty and that is about it.

why?What is it that attracts you to this religion?

I read my original post the other day and it seems I may not have been clear. I am personally not interested in subscribing to a religion, or this one in particular.

I guess the simplest explanation is that I am simply curious in theology in general. I also do not have many (any?) muslim friends/family to ask question. I went on YouTube and found the information to be kind of bare.

I suppose what I was curious about at the time of writing this post was the actual process of “becoming” Muslim. Catholics have the baptism and sacraments, Jews have their own rituals and processes, I could find very little on how people actually become Muslim.

I don't believe that there is a specific ritual associated with becoming Muslim. And in some senses, Protestant Christianity doesn't exactly have any fixed rituals, either. There's something about "the prayer" ("accept Jesus into your heart") but that's not a ritual because it's something any individual can do on their own. You will also see/hear references about a public declaration (usually in the form of Baptism), but for most Christians that's not considered necessary to be a Christian (though it's an expected step).

My sense is that it's similar for Muslims.

There's a phrase/prayer that you basically accept that Allah is the one and only divine and Muhammed is his prophet. That's it

I’m curious then why it seems like some religions are more....shall we say....difficult to penetrate than others. Is there some cultural or historical element at play here?

I'm not sure what you mean/asking by this tbh

Okay so as an example let’s use Judaism. Let’s assume I was not born into a religion. If I wanted to convert to Judaism and be acknowledged for this it seems like there is some amount of work involved in study and ritual and prayer and the like.

I had a friend who wanted to get married (both Jews) and they had to have a meeting with a rabbi and do some work and whatnot.

Contrast this with Christianity, or atleast the sect of Christianity that I tend to think of, and none of this work is necessary. I could literally decided right NOW to be a Christian. And I may be wrong here, but I could probably also get married by a Christian minister/priest/etc without even meeting with them more than once prior.

This seems kind of strange to me when you consider that these monotheistic belief systems arose out of the same area and around (relatively) the same time period.

I don't know what kind of work you need to do for Judaism but you can decide right now to be a Muslim also. You just need to accept Allah as the one and only divine and Muhammed being his prophet. As for the Islamic marriage, there isn't any religious work to do as well. It's easy to become a Muslim but it's very hard to live as a good Muslim, meaning without sin, doing all the rituals which aren't obligations but expected to do. It's a very restrictive religion overall imo. I'm not an expert by any means on any religion but living as a good Christian is way easier than living as a good Muslim.

I'm not a native english speaker but I hope I did explain things good enough

I would have never guessed English is not your first language. I understand completely what you mean

de4df1sh, you’ve managed to bring to light the fact that one of the religions you’ve mentioned is about a relationship (terrible as it may be) with God, and the other religions are just...I dunno...man made (or demonic).

What do you mean?

I think both Christianity and Islam recommend a lot of prayer. Judaism I am not sure. I may be wrong and I hope to be corrected if I am, but it seems like Jews have a different relationship with god than these other 2.

But of course it’s quite possible I only know bad Jews

I think you just have to say something like, "there is no God but God. Allah is his name and Mohammed was his messenger" or something like that. Forget the name of the it. Shihada I think.

Say "there is no god but Allah but Muhammad is his profit" and you are Muslim

Please watch this that gives a good breakdown and differences between Christianity and Islam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pj-QPlN2CU

What do you think Ray Comfort said in that clip that a Muslim* would find convincing (or would have any effect on their current position)?


* or a Mormon?
* or a Hindu?
* or a Buddhist?
* or a Catholic?
* or an Atheist?
etc.

I guess maybe bringing focus to the fact that we've sinned against God and then highlighting that God is just and has to punish everyone who has sinned against Him. He also highlighted the mercy that is offered through Jesus Christ. I guess there's a coherency to it all if you accept that God is just, and loving, and merciful.

I could be wrong about this, but this video might not change a Mormon's current position or a Catholic's current position because they might already agree with what Ray is saying but still hold additional false beliefs. As for an atheist, maybe the coherency of it could be convicing?

Muslims don't think mercy is offered through Jesus Christ, so why would they be persuaded by what would be, to them, blasphemy?


If it's not obvious, I'm asking why you think anything Ray Comfort said that would be persuasive to anyone other than those that already believe it already?

Unless this is getting too off topic...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

My guess is that it is getting off topic

Looking up ex-Muslim Christian testimonies on YouTube might be the way to go for your first question.

For your second question, because people can be persuaded? (this might be a bad answer)

so it's not easy to become a jew and not easy to be a good Muslim. still you go to hell. no wonder most Americans are Christian. a simple belief in nonsense gets you into heaven.

Please see post #1

Unless your family is not Christian, I can't see how you can be born in US and not identify yourself as Christian as default. That is the case for Muslims as well. One would need to be kind of open minded to explore other religions and make a conscious choice between them to convert into others or not to believe in any religion. Literally none of my friends ever read The Bible or Quran but if you ask them they would say they are either Christian or Muslim, which doesn't make too much sense at all.

In general I think religion is a subject that way too many people have strong opinions without even a decent knowledge.