Recently I had a slight disagreement with a friend over the nature of conversion cerremonies for those wishing to formally become Muslims.

He had criticized an ustaz who had merely asked a person to recite the shahadah, and upon him doing so, pronounced him then a Muslim.

He recounted with approval the instance of another ustaz who when asked to assist the conversion of another person to Islam lectured him on the tenets of Islam and then told him he was not ready to become a Muslim and had him coming back to that ustaz for  further “lessons” for a period of 6 months before the ustaz was finally satisfied and

then assisted in his formal conversion.

I had enquired what would be the situation if the second intending-Muslim had died during the period of 6 months without going through the formal conversion? Would he, for instance, be then refused Muslim- burial rites and his property not distributed according to Shariah?

The disagreement however set me thinking.

When a person states that he wishes to become a Muslim, has God entrusted another person amongst us to determine that person’s level of knowledge and belief before admitting him into the fold of Islam? No where, as far as I know, does Scripture so provide.

And who is, at any rate, to determine the acceptable level? Who decides the pass mark?

Who has the right to arrogate unto himself the ability to look into the heart of another to determine the genuinesness or otherwise of what the person wishing to convert professes? Is not that something that is the sole preserve of our Creator?

To me, there are two aspects to being a Muslim.

One is being a Muslim in the eyes of God. For that, only God who can look into the heart of a person, has the right to determine.

The other is being a Muslim in the eyes of his community. No man is possessed of the ability to determine the actual faith or lack of faith of another. Hence we ought to take at face-value the professed faith of another. If he in fact does not believe or lacks belief though professing to do so, then he should be left to God to be dealt with at the appropriate time. It is not for another man to do so nor to deny him the right to recite the shahadah and thereby be admitted into the community of Muslims.

Where however it is clearly manifest that a person wishing to formally enter Islam is opposed to Islam and/or disbelieves in it, then it will not be right to assist that person to enter into the community of Muslims. In the absence of any such manifestation however, no ustaz or person should deny him the right to formally become a Muslim or delay his doing so.