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If I Convert to Islam, Do I Also Get Baptized?

14 November, 2019
Q I'd Like to convert to Islam, but should I get Baptized?

Answer

Dr. Jasser Auda
14 November, 2019

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

There is no particular baptizing ritual in Islam except for one that appeared in the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which is when you convert to Islam you take a bath. That bath is a sign ofritual purity after which you can pray and you can continue your life as a Muslim normally.

Answering your question, Dr. Jasser Auda, Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, states: 

Basics of Converting to Islam

To convert to Islam, all you need to do is say “I bear witness there is no God but One and Muhammad is His Messenger.”

You have to believe in all the Messengers that Allah has sent.

You have to believe in all the Books that Allah has revealed.

You have to believe in the Angels.

You have to believe in the Hereafter. That is people will be held accountable for what they did in this life.

Finally, you have to believe that Allah destined everything.

Should New Muslims Get Baptized?

There is no particular baptizing ritual in Islam except for one that appeared in the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad which is when you convert to Islam you take a bath.

That bath is a sign of ritual purity after which you can pray and you can continue your life as a Muslim normally.

For males, it is recommended to do circumcision. This applies if the person who is going to convert to Islam is of a younger age and if it is something that will not have a negative medical impact on the person.

If the doctor says it is not a good idea to do circumcision, then there is no need for circumcision.

The basic ritual of converting to Islam is for the heart to turn to Allah and dedicate one’s life to Allah the Almighty.

 Almighty Allah knows best.

Conversion to Islam taking shahadah ritual purity should new Muslims get baptized?
About Dr. Jasser Auda
Jasser Auda is a Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, the Executive Director of the Maqasid Institute, a global think tank based in London, and a Visiting Professor of Islamic Law at Carleton University in Canada. He is a Founding and Board Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Fellow of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of India, and General Secretary of Yaqazat Feker, a popular youth organization in Egypt. He has a PhD in the philosophy of Islamic law from University of Wales in the UK, and a PhD in systems analysis from University of Waterloo in Canada. Early in his life, he memorized the Quran and studied Fiqh, Usul and Hadith in the halaqas of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo. He previously worked as: Founding Director of the Maqasid Center in the Philosophy of Islamic Law in London; Founding Deputy Director of the Center for Islamic Ethics in Doha; professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Alexandria University in Egypt, Islamic University of Novi Pazar in Sanjaq, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, and the American University of Sharjah. He lectured and trained on Islam, its law, spirituality and ethics in dozens of other universities and organizations around the world. He wrote 25 books in Arabic and English, some of which were translated to 25 languages.