Will I be considered a Muslim if I believe in Allah, his messenger, but haven't really adopted it?

Question

I have been living a life of an atheist for long and its difficult to reconcile some of Islam. I plan to first understand what and why, the nuances and then finally follow. Before embracing Islam I am working constantly to get rid of all vices, by following Islam now, I don't want to control these vices but instead I want to get rid of them altogether, so I don't even have a thought for them. Besides I wish to fully understand Qur'an and why what has been said, been said. I wish to be fully clear with the faith and what its teaching. Not just that, I also want to explore other faiths so I can understand, why they are considered adulterated and what it means when Qur'an says they have been adulterated. All this take times and sometimes I do commit sins and I am worried that if I am already a Muslim since I believe in shahdara and that Islam is a religion of God I am acting hypocritical and against the wish of God, where he wants me to be pious and pure. Is my concern legitimate?

By the way, I have been able to control vices by 90% and whenever I ask Allah to give me strength and show me the light I get an unexplained strong strength to beat the temptation of committing the sin.

Answer 1

You are saying you have been atheist for a long time. Then let me tell you something. You are just one step away from Islam. How is that? to be a Muslim, the first thing you do is saying the "Shahadah".

The first part of Shahadah is "I bear witness that there is no god but ALLAH" So as atheist, you do believe that there is no god. So, what is missing, is to believe that ALLAH is the only GOD we should obey. The 2nd part of Shahadah is to believe that is Mohammed is the Messenger of ALLAH and he is the last Messenger and you have to follow him and that what makes you different from Jew and Christians. Then you become a Muslim.

You say

Before embracing Islam I am working constantly to get rid of all vices

Well, let me tell few things:

1. You can not guarantee you will live till you reach your goal. So you might die before you convert to Islam.
2. Being Muslim, doesn't mean that you have to be sinless and vices-free. We are Muslims but we have sins and we have vices so we are not ideal Muslims; Yet we believe in ALLAH mercy and forgiveness. So we -As Muslims- always asks for ALLAH forgiveness and mercy.
3. ALLAH is so merciful and he can forgive anything if he want except Polytheism. In the Holy Quran, ALLAH say:

إن الله لا يغفر أن يشرك به ويغفر ما دون ذلك لمن يشاء ومن يشرك بالله فقد افترى إثما عظيما

Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.

4. Making mistakes and making some sins and vices is a human nature, it is difficult and almost impossible to make no sins and vices but all what we do is trying our best obey ALLAH and Prophet Mohammed orders and keep away from what they forbidden us from. and to know how big the forgiveness and gracious of ALLAH read this Hadith from the Prophet Mohammed:

والذي نفسي بيده لو لم تذنبوا لذهب الله بكم ولجاء بقوم غيركم يذنبون فيستغفرون الله فيغفر لهم

I Swear by whom has my life in his hand, if it happened that you do not commit sins, then ALLAH will replace you by other people that they commit sins and then they ask ALLAH for forgiveness and he will forgive them their sins

Dear Utkarsh, Islam is ALLAH religion, and it is the latest religion in the world, there is no religion will come after. Also, there is no more prophets or messenger ALLAH will send.

Allah Say:

إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ ۗ وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۗ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ

Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam. And those who were given the Scripture did not differ except after knowledge had come to them - out of jealous animosity between themselves. And whoever disbelieves in the verses of Allah , then indeed, Allah is swift in [taking] account

and he says:

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا

This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.

Answer 2

I suggest you say the Shahada, which makes you a Muslim. I suggest you look it up. Good job on wanting embrace Islam, To be a Muslim, you have to say the Shahada, although some people say to do that you need 2 witnesses, some people say you don't, you'll need to get some reliable source of information. But say the Shahada, makes you a Muslim, and find more information for it and the requirements. Good job for converting to Islam. May God Guide you to the Path.

Answer 3

just about nobody is "sin-free".

by acknowledging ALLAH's oneness and his prophet (pbuh) as his messenger , you are a Muslim.

by trying to gather more knowledge, you are knowledge-seeking Muslim.

by trying to avoid the "haram"s, you are practicing Muslim.

now, repentance is what you need for ur worry. that will pave the path to become a true Muslim by-heart ...

[ALLAH looks into your heart, and HE knows the best]

Answer 4

You say you believe in Allah and the Prophet. That is the essence of being a Muslim - Shahada. This is known to you but not to others so if you were to die you may not get Muslim rites as you are not officially known in the community. Formality that is necessary. So at heart you are a Muslim. Live by the great ethics of Islam.

Answer 5

You are Muslim as long as you do the Five Pillars of Islam:

1. Shahadah: declaring there is no god except God, and Muhammad is God's Messenger
2. Salat: ritual prayer five times a day
3. Zakat: giving 2.5% of one’s savings to the poor and needy
4. Sawm: fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan
5. Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if one is able

People do commit sins and are still Islam. If you are doing the pillars but still doing some other sins, that's great. Just invoke Allah to help you remove the rest of your vices.

One of Satan's tricks is to get people to think that just because they're drinking alcohol, they shouldn't be fasting, because it would make them look like hypocrites. It's better to fast and drink alcohol rather than not fast and refrain from alcohol!

I always say to people who are new at Islam to follow the pillars first. Sometimes the hard part is social acceptance - like someone finds it embarrassing to their family if they wear a hijab or don't drink alcohol during a family gathering. But as long as they keep to the pillars, Allah makes it easier for them to slowly remove the rest of their vices.

Answer 6

Islam wasn't revealed in one go but in 23 years and the sahaba added the new teachings to their lives whenever a new verse or teaching came to Muhummad saw, they learned it in steps and so did they follow. If you have believed that Allah is one and Muhummad saw(sallalahu alaihi wasalam > Peace be upon him) his messenger then intentionally you are a muslim, but there is still a super mandatory condition to fullfill i.e, shahadah (or bearing witness) by saying the following in Arabic as has been the tradition

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله = lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah

Else the intention is necessary.

Once that is done you are a Muslim but now after this you have to start adding Islamic teachings to your life(from Salah = Prayer, to your food, modesty, truthfullness and ...) Do keep adding them one by one like the Sahaba. Insha-Allah then you will become a good Muslim.

BUT You unlike Sahaba have to obey five pillars of Islam simultaneously because now they are known to you unlike Sahaba who knew them one by one

Five Pillars of Islam

Shahada Salah (Five mandatory daily Prayers)* Zakat(Charity) Sawm(Fasting) - One month in a year Hajj(Once in a lifetime - If you can do so economically, physically.) *-You can start by offering one and once adjusted to that then add the other one, no need to worry Allah understands your situation better than you.

About doing sins (caused/triggered primarily by satan and his army) I would say the following Please read them at your ease Also read the part how to become a successfull believer below.

Since my same Answer was deleted before, even though the data was from my own blog I am posting the link to my blog where I wrote the articles I suggest you to read.

Read the articles here

Answer 7

Generally being Muslim is counted to having belief in Allah and accepts prophet Muhammad as the apostle of Allah. In fact if he says Shahadatain, then we can say that he is muslim apparently

Answer 8

I think it is better to take the shahada first and then to continue reading and learning about Islam. From what you've written, it seems like you want to learn everything and get rid of all vices and sins before the conversion. However, a human being is never perfect, and Islamic knowledge is so vast that you will never feel like you know everything about it.

Finally, you say you want to learn more about faith and the why/how. I have two suggestions for this:

I think there are two essential aspects that should be studied.The first aspect is about faith and belief itself (i.e. the purpose of this life, names of God, destiny...etc). For this, I think the best source would be the Risale-i Nur collection by the Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (may Allah have mercy on him). From personal experience, I have not seen any Islamic book that delves into such topics as deep as he does. I wrote about the collection in my blog if you want to learn more about his books...so I will keep this short.

The second aspect is about Islamic laws and regulations, and for this I would recommend the website www.questionsonislam.com (You can ask questions there about Islam in general or about specific laws/regulations)...there are also many other good websites, of course.

Finally, we do not know when death will come...so I think taking the shahada should be your first step.

Answer 9

The first step for getting strong soul in this live is knowing Allah. the second step is to be closer to him. So I think you are in the second step. Normally if you want to be closer to a human you have at first to know what this person like or dislike and this task is really difficult. I see your question like this, "I know Allah but I don't know how can I be closer to him?". The answer for this question is not too easy but it's easier to know that from Allah than from a human, because you can feel that in your heart. So, you are in the researching step, good luck!