Ease, Freedom and a New Start

Islam came to make life easier, not harder: ﴿يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُمُ ٱلْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ ٱلْعُسْرَ﴾ (“Allah wants ease for you, and does not want hardship for you”) (2:185), and ﴿لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا﴾ (“Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear”) (2:286). The Prophet ﷺ said: "The religion is ease, and no one makes the religion too hard for himself except that it overwhelms him. So aim for what is right, come as close to it as you can, and rejoice" (Sahih al-Bukhari 39).

Faith cannot be forced on anyone: ﴿لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ ۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشْدُ مِنَ ٱلْغَىِّ﴾ (“There is no compulsion in religion; the right way has become clear from error”) (2:256). Islam asks a person to learn, reflect, and choose it sincerely.

A person enters Islam by sincerely bearing witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad ﷺ is His Messenger; the Shahadah is explained in The Pillars of Islam. When 'Amr ibn al-'As came to accept Islam and asked that his past sins be forgiven, the Prophet ﷺ told him: "Do you not know that Islam wipes out what came before it?" (Sahih Muslim 121). Whoever enters Islam begins with a clean page.