Conversion to Islam

Opaque water, gold, and ink on paper. An illustration of a veiled man in the center converts to Islam.
Illustration of Umar, companion of the Prophet, converting to Islam in an Iranian Shia epic recounting the life of Ali, c. 19th century.

Conversion to Islam is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. People who have converted to the religion often refer to themselves as "reverts." Conversion requires a formal statement of the shahādah, the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Proselytism of the faith is referred to as "dawah," and missionary efforts have been promoted since the dawn of the religion in the 7th century. Statistics relating to the amount of converts to Islam are scarce and often unreliable.