Almighty Allah told us about the terrible destination of non-Muslims in Hereafter in His saying:
﴿إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَروا بِآياتِنا سَوفَ نُصليهِم نارًا كُلَّما نَضِجَت جُلودُهُم بَدَّلناهُم جُلودًا غَيرَها لِيَذوقُوا العَذابَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ عَزيزًا حَكيمًا﴾
Approximate translation
Indeed those who disbelieve in Our verses - We will drive them into a fire. Everytime their skins are roasted through, We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment. Indeed Allah is ever Exalted in Might and Wise .
Chapter 4, verse 56.
So if we aren't true Muslims as we think, this is our destination, therefore we really need to know how to become true Muslims in order to be saved from this eternal torment, and to be among those about whom Allah said:
﴿وَالَّذينَ آمَنوا وَعَمِلُوا الصّالِحاتِ سَنُدخِلُهُم جَنّاتٍ تَجري مِن تَحتِهَا الأَنهارُ خالِدينَ فيها أَبَدًا لَهُم فيها أَزواجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ وَنُدخِلُهُم ظِلًّا ظَليلًا﴾
Approximate translation
But those who believe and do righteous deeds - We will admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide forever. For them are purified spouses, and We will admit them to deepening shade
Chapter 4, verse 57.
In this article I will speak quite frankly, and before talking about how to become a true Muslim I will tell you what are the benefits, and the costs of to be a true Muslim, because a lot of preachers are motivated by the love of making people accept Islam, they distort Islam in order to make Islam agree with the whims of the people, whereas the Islam is the absolute right, and we must be true Muslims or otherwise we will never be saved.
I will debate this subject through the following axes inshallah:
- Why is Islam the absolute right?
- The benefits of to be a true Muslim
- The costs of to be a true Muslim
- How to become a true Muslim
Why is Islam the absolute right?
Suppose you have a car, you bought it with your money, can you imagine that your car won't take you where you want if it's not broken?
That's impossible
Why is that impossible?
Because it's your car …
you are its owner …
it's your property …
So it has to get you where you want as long as it can move you, right?
Yes of course, this is something definitely right.
For Allah the highest example, you are His property …
He is your owner …
Therefore you have to obey Him alone without a partner, you must submit to Him alone without a partner.
So your submission to Allah (Islam) is obviously and absolutely right.
Further what previous here's some differences making your submission to Allah more right than the car to its owner
The first difference between you and the car, that Allah created you from nothing, and created all things, while you just bought your car and didn't create it from nothing.
The second difference is that Allah is more merciful than you, because He rewards you when you obey Him, while you never thought about rewarding your car.
The third difference is that obeying Allah is for your interest in this life and Hereafter, Allah does not won anything from our obedience to Him, whereas obedience of the Car is for your interest and will destroy the car over the years.
So really, and logically we have to submit to Allah alone, and we don't have any excuse to not obey Him, glory be to Him.
The benefits of to be a true Muslim
There are many benefits of to be a true Muslim, here's some of them:
To be loved by Allah
The greatest thing that we can dream of is being loved by Almighty Allah,
the Creator of all things …
the Most Merciful …
the Entirely Merciful …
That's something beyond all our imagination …
Nothing is more valuable than being loved by Allah, glory be to Him, and this is what we immediately attain in this life when we submit to Him by following His lovely Messenger Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him, as Allah promised us in His saying:
﴿قُل إِن كُنتُم تُحِبّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعوني يُحبِبكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغفِر لَكُم ذُنوبَكُم وَاللَّهُ غَفورٌ رَحيمٌ﴾
Approximate translation
Say, if you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful
Chapter 3, verse 31.
In the opposite side, Allah does not love the ungrateful people, as He said in the following verse:
﴿قُل أَطيعُوا اللَّهَ وَالرَّسولَ فَإِن تَوَلَّوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُحِبُّ الكافِرينَ﴾
Approximate translation
Say obey Allah and the Messenger. But if they turn away - then indeed Allah does not like the disbelievers.
Chapter 3, verse 32.
Getting out from darknesses into the light
The second benefit is getting out from darknesses where you don't know the purpose of your life, and how to live correctly your life, into the light where you know who are you, and how can you live peacefully and effectively, as Almighty Allah mentioned in:
﴿اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذينَ آمَنوا يُخرِجُهُم مِنَ الظُّلُماتِ إِلَى النّورِ وَالَّذينَ كَفَروا أَولِياؤُهُمُ الطّاغوتُ يُخرِجونَهُم مِنَ النّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُماتِ أُولئِكَ أَصحابُ النّارِ هُم فيها خالِدونَ﴾
Approximate translation
Allah is the ally of those who believe, He brings them out from darknesses into the light. And those who disbelieve - their allies are Tagut, they take them of the light into darknesses. Those are the companions of Fire, they will abide eternally therein .
Chapter 2, verse 257.
Good life here, and great reward in Hereafter
Surely when you submit yourself to Allah, and Allah loves you, and brings you from darknesses into the light, you will live a good life, because Allah is with you, no matter how many difficult times you will face, by the support of Allah you will overcome all difficulties, because you are guided by Allah through His revelation, the Quran and Sunnah.
In hereafter you will be among the companions of Paradise as Allah mentioned in a lot of verses from which His saying:
﴿مَن عَمِلَ صالِحًا مِن ذَكَرٍ أَو أُنثى وَهُوَ مُؤمِنٌ فَلَنُحيِيَنَّهُ حَياةً طَيِّبَةً وَلَنَجزِيَنَّهُم أَجرَهُم بِأَحسَنِ ما كانوا يَعمَلونَ﴾
Approximate translation
Whoever does righteousness whether male or female, while he is a believer, - We will surely cause him to live a good life and We will surely give them their reward [in Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do .
Chapter 16, verse 97.
The costs of to be a true Muslim
Before getting any big results you have to work hard, therefore you have to work hard for getting Allah's love and mercy, the living a good life and Paradise in Hereafter, isn't it
No, it's not.
In fact you don't need to work hard to get all of that, but you just need to be honest when you decide to submit yourself to Allah alone without a partner.
This decision makes you against all the world, because from now on, you will not observe any law except Allah's law, so maybe you will be gotten rid of by the people around you, and even will be putted in a jail as I previously talked in what does practically islam mean.
So be ready for it, Allah's love and mercy worth more than sacrificing your life, isn't it?
How to become a true Muslim
Islam is not like other religions like Christianity or Jewish, Islam is a totally new mode of living …
Is a revolution against injustice and tyranny…
Is resurrection from death into life, as Allah mentioned in:
﴿أَوَمَن كانَ مَيتًا فَأَحيَيناهُ وَجَعَلنا لَهُ نورًا يَمشي بِهِ فِي النّاسِ كَمَن مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُماتِ لَيسَ بِخارِجٍ مِنها كَذلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلكافِرينَ ما كانوا يَعمَلونَ﴾
Approximate translation
And is one who was dead and We gave him a life and We made for him a light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness never to emerge therefrom? Thus it had been made pleasing to the disbelievers that which they were doing
Chapter 6, verse 122.
So to become a true Muslim is not some steps that you do, but a journey in which you will be reborn and elevated with new values, concepts, principles and morals.
This journey starts by taking the decision that you give yourself to Allah alone without a partner, by following His Messenger peace and blessings be upon him.
In order to be honest in your decision you have to know all the authorities that you submit to, and start to liberate yourself from them, otherwise you aren't a Muslim even though you consider yourself as a Muslim and you establish prayer and fasting Ramadan and so on.
To help you to define all the authorities that you submit to, here's some of them generally the majority of people are submitting to:
Your desires
Unconsciously we are slaves of our desires, we live our life pushed by our desires, and instead of being slaves of Allah our Creator, we follow our desires in almost everything.
So we need to be liberated from slavery to our desires first, before being a slave of Allah.
To overcome our desires' authority we need to remember consistently that we are creatures and not creators, and we are here for a very short time, if we compare our worldly life with the infinite life in Hereafter.
The Quran remember us this fact in many verses from which:
﴿مَن كانَ يُريدُ الحَياةَ الدُّنيا وَزينَتَها نُوَفِّ إِلَيهِم أَعمالَهُم فيها وَهُم فيها لا يُبخَسونَأُولئِكَ الَّذينَ لَيسَ لَهُم فِي الآخِرَةِ إِلَّا النّارُ وَحَبِطَ ما صَنَعوا فيها وَباطِلٌ ما كانوا يَعمَلونَ﴾ [هود: ١٥-١٦]
Approximate translation
Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments - We fully repay them for their deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived. Those are the ones for whom there is not in Hereafter but the Fire. And lost is what they did therein, and worthless is what they used to do
Chapter 11, verses 15-16
﴿مَن كانَ يُريدُ العاجِلَةَ عَجَّلنا لَهُ فيها ما نَشاءُ لِمَن نُريدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلنا لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ يَصلاها مَذمومًا مَدحورًاوَمَن أَرادَ الآخِرَةَ وَسَعى لَها سَعيَها وَهُوَ مُؤمِنٌ فَأُولئِكَ كانَ سَعيُهُم مَشكورًا﴾
Approximate translation
Whoever desires the Immediate - We hasten for him from it what We will to whom We intend. Then We have made for him Hell, which he will [enter to] burn, censured and banished. But those who desires the Hereafter and exerts effort due to it while he is a believer - it is those whose effort is ever appreciated [by Allah]
Chapter 17, verses 18-19.
Overcoming your desire is not something easy, but don't give up, just be aware of its authority and try to beat it, and you are already a Muslim, because Allah is Forgiving and Merciful and He knows perfectly our weakness, therefore He will forgive us as long as we try to redeem ourselves to Him, so don't give up, just keep going and inshallah you will arrive by the permission of Allah.
The society
We are made by our environment, our names, our identity, our culture, our taste, and even our manner of thinking, all of that and further than that is implanted in our unconscious mind, so we need to redefine all of that from an Islamic perspective.
In order to liberate yourself from the society authority here's some steps:
In the beginning, isolate yourself from your community for a while, this isolation will give you the opportunity to stop instilling the value of society and its principles in your unconscious mind in order to change them by Islamic values and concepts.
This step necessite some patience, because is it's a step of transition, as Allah mentioned:
﴿وَاصبِر عَلى ما يَقولونَ وَاهجُرهُم هَجرًا جَميلًا﴾
Approximate translation
And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance.
Chapter 73, vers 10.
Then start inviting your people to Allah, this will help you a lot to overcome your society authority, and maybe may Allah guide some people by you.
Keep in mind that every Muslim must make inviting people to Allah his way in this life, because it's the way of Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him and his followers as Allah mentioned in:
﴿قُل هذِهِ سَبيلي أَدعو إِلَى اللَّهِ عَلى بَصيرَةٍ أَنا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَني وَسُبحانَ اللَّهِ وَما أَنا مِنَ المُشرِكينَ﴾
Approximate translation
Say this my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah, and I am not of those who associate others with Him
Chapter 12, verse 108.
The third step is to create your community from Muslims around you and all over the world. This community will alleviate your feeling of loneliness, so you can keep going into your journey to Allah.
Don't forget that I'm here to support you in all possible ways, so feel free to contact me.
The country
From now on, you don't submit to your country's law, so keep it in mind, and try to avoid all situations that make you under the country law.
This doesn't mean you have to fight your country, but means enduring all difficulties, and what you will face, and be peaceful until Allah gives you secours, like what happened with the Messenger of Allah and his companions in Mecca .
If you did what is previous, you are already on the straight path, therefore just keep going and pray to Allah all time to steady you on this path.
In the next article we will study how did Abraham pbuh become a Muslim in order to follow his steps because Abraham is the leader that Allah made for humankind.
I remember you that I am your brother in Islam, we belong to the same family, the family of Islam, so feel free to contact me, and talk to me as you like, you will find me a good listener and close brother inshallah, may Allah enter all of us in his mercy Amin.