# Conversion to Islam

Conversion to Islam is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. People who have converted to the religion often refer to themselves as "reverts." Conversion requires a formal statement of the shahādah, the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Proselytism of the faith is referred to as "dawah," and missionary efforts have been promoted since the dawn of the religion in the 7th century. Statistics relating to the amount of converts to Islam are scarce and often unreliable.

## Terminology

Converts to Islam may be referred to as "converts," "reverts," or "new Muslims." Many people who have converted to Islam prefer to call themselves "reverts," in reference to a hadith that says that all people are Muslims at birth, but only come to "leave" the faith due to the environment they are raised in. The belief in the innate condition of Islam in all people is referred to as "fitra."

## Requirements

Converting to Islam requires one to declare the shahādah, the Muslim profession of faith ("there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah", Classical Arabic: أَشْهَدُ أَن لا إِلٰهَ إلَّا الله و أَشْهَدُ أَنَ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُول الله)
In Islam, circumcision (khitan) is considered a sunnah custom that is not mentioned in the Quran but is mentioned in hadith. The majority of clerical opinions holds that circumcision is not required upon entering the Muslim faith.

## Islamic missionary activities

Dawah (Arabic: دعوة, lit. 'invitation', Arabic:) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. In Islamic theology, the purpose of da‘wah is to invite people, Muslims and non-Muslims, to understand the worship of God as expressed in the Qur'an and the sunnah of Muhammad and to inform them about Muhammad.
Dawah as the "Call towards God" is the means by which Muhammad began spreading the message of the Quran to mankind. After Muhammad, his followers and the Muslim community assumed responsibility for it. They convey the message of the Qur'an by providing information on why and how the Qur'an preaches monotheism.
Muhammad saw Islam as the true religion and mission of all earlier prophets. He believed that their call had been limited to their own people but that his was universal. His mission as the final prophet was to repeat to the whole world this call and invitation (Dawah) to Islam. Muhammad wrote to various non-Muslim rulers, inviting them to convert.

## Forceful Conversions in Islamic History

Throughout Islamic history, there have been instances of forceful conversions, although the extent and nature of these conversions vary widely across different periods and regions. During the early Islamic conquests, non-Muslims, particularly pagans, were often given the choice to convert to Islam, pay the jizya tax, or face exile or death, depending on the interpretations of the four main schools of Islamic law. Notably, the Safavid Empire in Iran implemented a forceful conversion policy in the 16th century, ensuring the dominance of Twelver Shia Islam within the region. Other historical examples include the Almohad dynasty's suppression of Jews and Christians in North Africa and al-Andalus during the 12th century, where they were forced to convert, be exiled, or face execution.
Islamic rulers massacred and invaded countless temples, looting their wealth and desecrating Gods which can be found during the reigns of Mahmud Khalji of Malwa (1436–1469 AD), Ilyas Shah (1339–1379 AD), Babur (1483–1530 AD), and Sher Shah Suri (1486–1545 AD), all of whom destroyed temples, killed non-Muslims, and forced the conversion of entire communities. Even during the so-called sulah-i-kul (“peace with all”) initiated by Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542–1605 AD), his son Shah Jahan, known for his supposed monument to love, had almost a hundred temples destroyed in the ancient city of Varanasi alone. Jahan’s son Aurangzeb brought an end to any pretense of this institutionalized peace, and went on a rampage, killing Hindus, destroying temples, and placing severe restrictions on already impoverished Hindu cultural institutions.

## Conversion rate

Counting the number of converts to a religion is difficult, because some national censuses ask people about their religion, but they do not ask if they have converted to their present faith, and, in some countries, legal and social consequences make conversion difficult, such as the death sentence for leaving Islam in some Muslim countries. Statistical data on conversion to and from Islam are scarce. An expert on Islamic law, M. Cherif Bassiouni, states "The Quran contains a provision that says ‘he who has embraced Islam and then abandons it will receive punishment in hell after Judgment Day'."The extend to which death penalty could be applied is debated among scholars. Prominent Islamic scholar and debater Dr. Shabir Ally disagrees with classical scholars and questioning the authenticity of the hadith because it directly contradicts the Qur'an.Prof. Quraish Shihab a Quranic Interpretation expert from Al-Azhar University argues in his book Tafsir Al-Misbah that the verse "there is no compulsion in religion" is an independent verse, which means it is a universal concept in the Qur'an.
According to a study published in 2011 by Pew Research, what little information is available suggests that religious conversion has no net impact on the global Muslim population as the number of people who convert to Islam is roughly similar to those who leave Islam. According to another study published on 2015 by Pew research center, Islam is expected to experience a modest gain of 3.22 million adherents through religious conversion between 2010 and 2050, although this modest impact will make Islam, compared with other religions, the second largest religion in terms of net gains through religious conversion after religiously unaffiliated, which is expected to have the largest net gains through religious conversion.
According to The New York Times, an estimated 25% of American Muslims are converts. In Britain, around 6,000 people convert to Islam per year and, according to a June 2000 article in the British Muslims Monthly Survey, the majority of new Muslim converts in Britain were women. According to The Huffington Post, "Though exact numbers are difficult to tally, observers estimate that as many as 20,000 Americans convert to Islam annually."
According to Pew Research, the number of U.S. converts to Islam is roughly equal to the number of U.S. Muslims who leave the religion, unlike other religions, in which the number of those leaving is greater than the number of converts. 77% of new converts to Islam are from Christianity, whereas 19% were from non-religion.
According to Guinness, approximately 12.5 million more people converted to Islam than people converted to Christianity between 1990 and 2000.Despite this, Islam remains, on the global level, the second religion with the second largest number of net converts into the religion, with about 420,000 more people converting to Islam than leaving Islam between 2015 and 2020 in the United States.
In 2010, the Pew Forum found "that statistical data for Muslim conversions is scarce and as per their little available information, there is no substantial net gain or loss of Muslims due to religious conversion. It also stated that "the number of people who embrace Islam and the number of those who leave Islam are roughly equal with a net gain of 420,000 converts in the United States alone. Thus, this report excludes religious conversion as a direct factor from the projection of Muslim population growth." People switching their religions will likely have no effect on the growth of the Muslim population, as the number of people who convert to Islam is roughly similar to those who leave Islam. Another study found that the number of people who will leave Islam is 9,400,000 and the number of converts to Islam is 12,620,000 so the net gain to Islam through conversion should be 3 million between 2010 and 2050, mostly from Sub Saharan Africa (2.9 million).
According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, between 2010 and 2015 "an estimated 213 million babies were born to Muslim mothers and roughly 61 million Muslims died, meaning that the natural increase in the Muslim population – i.e., the number of births minus the number of deaths – was 152 million over this period", and it added small net gains through religious conversion into Islam (420,000). According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, by 2060 Muslims will remain the second world's largest religion; and if current trends continue, the number of Muslims will reach 2.9 billion (or 31.1%).
It was reported in 2013 that around 5,000 British people convert to Islam every year, with most of them being women. According to an earlier 2001 census, surveys found that there was an increase of 60,000 conversions to Islam in the United Kingdom. Many converts to Islam said that they suffered from hostility from their families. According to a report by CNN, "Islam has drawn converts from all walks of life, most notably African-Americans". Studies estimated about 30,000 converting to Islam annually in the United States. According to The New York Times, an estimated 25% of American Muslims are converts, these converts are mostly African American. According to The Huffington Post, "observers estimate that as many as 20,000 Americans convert to Islam annually.", most of them are women and African-Americans. Experts say that conversions to Islam have doubled in the past 25 years in France, among the six million Muslims in France, about 100,000 are converts. On the other hand, according to Pew Research, the number of American converts to Islam is roughly equal to the number of American Muslims who leave Islam and this is unlike other religions in the United States where the number of those who leave these religions is greater than the number of those who convert to it, and most people who leave Islam become unaffiliated. According to the same study, ex-Muslims were more likely to be Christians compared to ex-Hindus or ex-Jews.
According to the religious forecast for 2050 by Pew Research Center, between 2010 and 2050 modest net gains through religious conversion are expected for Muslims (3 million) and most of the net gains through religious conversion for Muslims found in the Sub Saharan Africa (2.9 million).