Embracing Islam without knowing much about it
Fatwa No: 124513

Question

Can a lady convert to Islam without knowing more than the shahada ? Certain woman chose to become Muslim without actuall knowledge of Islam which can cause difficulties in the marriage and with the kids later on. How can we prevent woman to not revert simply for a man or woman without proper knowledge of Islam ?Alao is there any ISLAMIC requirements that one has to fufill before they revert ?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

It is not a condition for embracing Islam to know the details of its rulings; this can be achieved after having embraced Islam. The condition that must be fulfilled in order to embrace Islam, however, is to utter the Two Testimonies of Faith, which is to say: "Ash-Hadu Allaa Ilaaha Illallaah Wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammadan Rasoolullaah" (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah), while knowing its meaning. This is enough for the people to consider him as a Muslim.  

As regards between a person and his Lord, then a person does not benefit from the Two Testimonies of Faith except with other conditions, like being truthful and firmly certain about them and being sincere about them, this means to utter them only for the Sake of Allaah. He must also accept them fully, abide by them and love them and what they necessitate; for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 105387 and 119003.

To conclude, it is permissible for this woman to embrace Islam with the purpose of getting married, because it is possible for a person to embrace Islam for a worldly objective and afterwards he would become a good Muslim when he sees in Islam a clear and pure creed and sees the good characteristics of the Islamic legislation. This is what happened with Abu Talhah when he embraced Islam in order to marry Umm Sulaym and then he became a good Muslim. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 83685 and 92009.

However, this woman should be advised to embrace Islam for the Sake of Allaah so that she would win the happiness of this world and that of the Hereafter.

Allaah Knows best.

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