ok, this is something that for some reasom irritates me.
It shouldn't because it is extremely minor, but it does.
So when someone accepts Islam, do they revert or convert?
The arguments are as follows:
Argument for using "revert"
Unlike Christians, Muslims do not accept "Original Sin" and that all humans are born in a sinful state. We believe that people are born pure.
Since Islam is accepting God and returning to a purer state, people say that someone has reverted to islam
Argument for using "convert"
Well, this one is simple - people have chosen to accept Islam. Unless they were previously Muslims who had converted to something other than islam and then back, they are simply converting to Islam.
My view
The argument against the use of convert is that "but people are born Muslims, so they are reverting!" which is untrue. They are born pure, sinless. this can also be taken as muslim with a small m, but this is not the same as accepting Islam, which requires a conscious decision.
This is the same when people say earlier followers of the Books, the prophets etc were muslims - they do not mean they followed Islam (since it had not been revealed), but that they submitted to God and were "hanif".
Hanif is probably the more correct word to describe such people, not Muslim.
So, when people accept Islam, IMO, they convert to Islam, and/or (hopefully) revert to a purer state of being. Not revert to Islam.
Saying that someone "reverted to Islam" when they had previously not left Islam is kind of sneery IMO ("yeah, they all want to leave, but then they come back. the grass is not greener. They should have known better before leaving...") and it does not feel right.
Terminology can be important.
Comments
"Fitrah is also associated with Islam and being born as a Muslim. This is when fitrah is viewed in respect to Shahadah – that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah – which makes a person a Muslim. Fitrah, in this sense, is the faculty, which He has created in mankind, of knowing Allah. It is the natural constitution with which the child is created in his mother’s womb, whereby he is capable of accepting the religion of truth.[9] That fitrah refers to religion is further shown in a tradition in which it is related that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, taught a man to repeat certain words when lying down to sleep, and said: ‘Then if you die that same night, you die upon the fitrah (in the true dîn).’ Also by the saying: ‘The paring of the nails is of the fitrah (i.e. of the dîn).’[10]
This meaning is affirmed by sûrah 30 âyah 30:
‘Set your face to the dîn in sincerity (hanîfan) which is Allah's fitrah (the nature made by Allah) upon which He created mankind (fatâra’n-nâs). There is no changing the creation of Allah. That is the right dîn but most people know not.’"
(http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/DefinitionFitrah.htm)
#Before you look at the thorns of the rose , look at it's beauty. Before you complain about the heat of the sun , enjoy it's light. Before you complain about the blackness of the night, think of it's peace and quiet... #
Thanks for a that link.
But from the quoted bit, the analysis of the writer does not match exactly what is later.
Islam is from the fitrah, but it is not always true the other way around.
People have a natural predisposition towards good, but this does not mean they know instinctivvely know everything that is revealed in the qur'an.
The fitrah will get a person a long way - a semblance of morality, humanism, even monotheism, but it does not have the same stringent requirements of Islam. Islam simply requires more - conscious and willful choice.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
I have to admit that since the above exchange, I am less annoyed by the use of the word revert. For now anyway.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Ahahh YAY
#Before you look at the thorns of the rose , look at it's beauty. Before you complain about the heat of the sun , enjoy it's light. Before you complain about the blackness of the night, think of it's peace and quiet... #
I have just posted this on London Muslim blog:
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.