Islam is a religion based on love and compassion, which calls for peace and fosters a life in absolute sincerity and honesty before Allah. Therefore it is vitally important for the one to live by the religion of Islam to be a Muslim with his own will and aspiration and observe Allah’s commands and advise from heart and soul through personal conscientious contentment.
Muslims instruct goodness and rule out evil as to Allah’s command to “command what is right and forbid what is wrong” (Surah Luqman, 17) and call people to the path of Allah with words of purity. Yet, believers know Allah guides to the right way (Surah Al-Qasas, 56), so after elucidating the truth they leave people to their own freedom of conscience. The contrary is out of the question, because trying to make someone Muslim by means of pressure, threat or force is primarily against the essence of Islam...
There is no compulsion where the religion is concerned. Right guidance has become clearly distinct from error. Anyone who rejects false deities and believes in Allah has grasped the Firmest Handhold, which will never give way. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara, 256)
In this respect, anyone who enforces one to observe religion of Islam acts mainly against the Qur’an. There is a great implication behind Islam’s command of avoiding compulsion in religion. Islam has the literal meaning of “submission” and the Muslim is a person who has “submitted” himself. For a person to follow Allah’s guidance with firm belief and to make an effort in His path, first of all that person should hold firmly to faith in Allah. Yet, if one becomes Muslim under duress, that person does not turn out to be a Muslim but a hypocrite. Allah informs that hypocrites are people whose “Their shelter will be Hell.” (Surat at-Tawba, 73) and who will be “in the lowest level of the Fire” (Surat an-Nisa’, 145). The mindset of hypocrites is described in detail in the Qur’an and people are warned against such a dishonest understanding of religion. For instance;
Hypocrites say they believe in Allah and the Last Day, despite they do not believe:
Among the people there are some who say, ‘We believe in Allah and the Last Day,’ when they are not believers. They think they deceive Allah and those who believe. They deceive no one but themselves but they are not aware of it. (Surat al-Baqara, 8-9)
When they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We believe.’ But then when they go apart with their demons, they say, ‘We are really with you. We were only mocking.’ (Surat al-Baqara, 14)
Hypocrites show off and perform religious obligations unwillingly:
The hypocrites think they deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. When they get up to pray, they get up lazily, showing off to people, and only remembering Allah a very little. They vacillate between the two – not joining these or joining those. If Allah misguides someone, you will not find any way for him to go. (Surat an-Nisa’, 142-143)
Nothing prevents what they give from being accepted from them but the fact that they have rejected Allah and His Messenger, and that they only come to prayer lethargically, and that they only give reluctantly. (Surat at-Tawba, 54)
Attempting to convert people to Muslims by employing oppression and force results in a human type – hypocrites – that Islam is in opposition to. Therefore a system that produces hypocrites whom Allah pledges the most severe torment in Hell or an approach that would cause hypocrisy is not acceptable in the Qur’an. In actual fact, Almighty Allah will judge people in respect to their sincere faith on the Last Day and will part devout believers from hypocrites.
Moreover, we learn from the Qur’an that in this world, there will people with all kinds of faiths and that they will be created the way they are in their destiny providentially:
We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had Allah willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to Allah and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 48)
In another verse of the Qur’an, Our Lord says the following to the Prophet Muhammad (saas):
[Say]: “You have your religion and I have my religion.” (Surah Al-Kafirun, 6)
