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Lesson How does a person enter into Islam
A person enters into Islam upon pronouncing the two-part testimony of faith, in awareness and certainty of its meaning, and submitting to what they entail.
The two-part testimony of faith is as follows:
The moment a person enters Islam is the greatest moment of his life and his true birth, after which he knows the reason for his existence in this life. With his entry into the religion, it is prescribed upon him or her to wash their full body with water. As he internally purified himself from associating partners with him and disobedience, it is recommended for him to also purify himself externally with water.
The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) commended one of the companions---and he was one of the leaders of the Arabs---when he intended to enter into Islam to wash himself (Al-Bayhaqi 837).
Tawbah (Repentance)
Repentance is the turning and returning to Allah, so whoever gives up his disobedience and disbelief and sincerely returns to Allah from his heart has repented to Him.
Conditions of a valid repentance:
How to stay steadfast upon repentance
What comes after repentance?
If a person repents and is penitent, then Allah the Exalted forgives all sins, no matter how great and vast they are. Allah's Mercy encompasses everything. As Allah said: {Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful} (Az-Zumar:53)
A Muslim comes out after a correct, sincere repentance without the sin. Rather, Allah the Exalted rewards the honest, humble, and sincerely regretful with a great virtue: their bad deeds get replaced by good deeds, as the Glorified said: {Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful} (Al-Furqan:70).
And whoever is in this situation, it is better for him to preserve that repentance and to make sacrifices with the most precious of things so that he does not fall into the traps of Satan that lead to his reversal.
Whoever has the greatest love for Allah and His Messenger, and loves others according to their closeness to Allah, the soundness of their religion and Islam, and hates to return to what he was upon of disbelieve, polytheism, and misguidance, as he hates to be burned in the Fire, then he will find sweetness and pleasure in his heart with what he finds of solace in Allah and tranquility and serenity with His Law and His blessing of guidance upon him. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Three who has this will find with them the sweetness of faith: whosoever makes Allah and His Messenger dearer to him than anything else, that he loves a person only for the sake of Allah, and that he hates to return to disbelief after Allah has saved him from it. He also hates to be thrown into the Fire" (Bukhari 21, Muslim 43).
Holding fast to the religion and patience if any harm befalls you with it:
Whoever owns a precious treasure is keen to protect it from the hands of abusers and thieves and defends it from everything that affects it. Islam is the single greatest blessing that Allah bestows on a person. Islam is not merely an abstract ideological orientation or a hobby that a person exercises whenever he wants, but rather a religion that governs all facets of a human's life from its movements to its stillness. Hence, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, commanded His Messenger to firmly adhere to Islam and the Quran and not to give up any part of it because he is on the straight path: {So hold fast to that which was revealed to you. Verily you are on a straight path} (Al-Zukhruf:43).
A Muslim should not be sorrowful if he encounters some hardship after his conversion to Islam, for this is Allah's way of testing them. Those who are better than us were afflicted with the most severe of tribulations, but they remained patient and struggled. The prophets of Allah were tested with affliction from those closest to them before those who were further away. But they did not show weakness in the face of their affliction for the sake of Allah, and nor did they change. Affliction is a test from Allah of the sincerity of the Muslim’s faith and the strength of his certainty, so he must be up to this test, adhere to this religion, and supplicate to Allah as the Prophet ﷺ used to pray a lot by saying: “O turner of hearts, make my heart firm upon your religion” (Tirmidhi 2140).
