Are you a ‘Muslim by birth” or “Muslim by choice”?

This is a fundamental question that every Muslim needs to ask himself/herself. There is a heaven and earth difference between the two.

A “Muslim by birth” is a person who adopted Islam as his/her religion just because he was borne in a Muslim family. And “Muslim by choice” is a person who has convinced himself/herself through rational reasoning that Islam is the only correct Deen (way of life). Fundamentally there is hardly any difference between a “Muslim by birth” or “Christian by birth” or any other religion. Such a person be a Muslim or not, has no certainty about his/her own religion. They just follow the crowd. For them it’s just a custom or cultural practice passed on from their forefathers. Allah says in the Holy Quran: 

And when it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has sent down”, they say, “We shall only follow that upon which we found our forefathers.”   What!  Will they still be following them even if Shaitaan had been calling them to the raging Fire? [Surah Luqman verse 21]

They just pick and choose from their religion whatever goes with the current trend. It’s very common among them to carry the compromised idea that “All religion is OK as long as you are a good human being.” They can adopt such compromised idea cause they are not certain about their own religion.


"And they have no knowledge thereof. They follow but a guess, and lo! a guess can never take the place of the truth."  Quran (Chapter:An-Najm/Verse:28) 

                                                                                                                                               

On the other hand a “Muslim by choice” is convinced of the truthfulness of Islam, hence he is able to free himself from the slavery of his own desire/whims and submit to the slavery of the One, the Supreme Creator and the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth. He embraces Islam as Deen (system of life) but not as a religion (customs, rituals). He questions the practices of his fore fathers and doesn't accept anything that is not validated by the Quran and the Sunnah. Characteristics of such Muslim is that they hear and obey. Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

The only saying of the faithful believers, when they are called to Allâh (His Words, the Qur'ân) and His Messenger (SAW), to judge between them, is that they say: "We hear and we obey." And such are the successful (who will live forever in Paradise). [Al-Noor, Verse 51]

So let us ask ourselves are we “Muslims by Choice”? If not then let us make sincere effort to find out if Islam is the only true Deen or not before it’s too late. 

"O you who believe! Fear Allâh as He should be feared. and die not except in a state of Islâm (as Muslims with complete submission to Allâh) [Al-Imran, Verse 102].