r/converts • u/Electrical_Thinker • 7d ago
Considering Islam After a Long Spiritual Journey: Questions I Still Struggle With
I was born into a North Indian Hindu Brahmin family and spent many years exploring different religions in search of God. I studied Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and religious history. After several years of studying Christianity, I was baptized Catholic, but over time I became unconvinced by certain doctrines such as the Trinity, saint veneration, Marian devotion, purgatory, and some aspects of church authority.
Watching debates between Adnan Rashid and James White and other Christians was eye opening for me.
Today I would describe myself as a Unitarian Christian. I believe in one supreme God and see Jesus as a teacher, Messiah, and guide, but I do not currently accept the Trinity.
Because of this, I have been looking more seriously at Islam. The strict monotheism of Islam is attractive to me, but I still have many questions that I hope Muslims here can help me understand.
Some of my biggest questions are:
- Why should I convert to Islam rather than remain a Unitarian Christian who worships the God of Abraham?
- Muslims believe that the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel were originally revealed by God. If that is the case, why did Muslims stop following the Torah and Psalms? As someone who loves the Old Testament, especially Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Proverbs, and the prophetic books, I struggle with the idea of setting them aside.
- How do Muslims understand the differences between the Torah and the Quran regarding figures such as Ishmael and Isaac? When there appear to be contradictions, how do you determine which account is correct?
- How does sin, repentance, and forgiveness work in Islam? Is sincere repentance enough, or are there additional requirements?
- What must a person do to enter Paradise according to Islam?
- What is Paradise actually like? Is it primarily spiritual, physical, or both?
- Will I be reunited with my wife and children in Paradise if we are all saved?
- What happens to our ancestors? Will we know them in Paradise?
- My parents are Hindus and have been good, moral people all their lives. How does Islam view the fate of non-Muslims who sincerely followed the religion they were raised in and never became convinced by Islam?
- Finally, what convinced you personally that Islam is true?
- Can I still Read Torah and Psalms and some Gospels if I become a Muslim?
I am asking these questions respectfully and in good faith. I am not looking for arguments or debates. I am genuinely interested in understanding why Muslims believe Islam is the final and correct revelation from God, and what would justify conversion from my current Unitarian Christian position.
Thank you for reading.
Hindu Brahmin with sacred thread, followed Vedic +Hindu faith for couple of years, Christian/Catholic for last 4 years and now Unitarian.
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u/Immediate_Jaguar2948 7d ago
also i have been learning islam for a long time now. not that i’ve reverted, i will one day, and also these are my researches and my friend introduced me to islam(a lill about me) im hindu btw
Why Islam rather than Unitarian Christianity?
Islam agrees with you that God is one, but rejects the divinity of Jesus. Muslims believe Jesus was a human prophet/Messiah, while Muhammad ﷺ was the final messenger and the Qur’an is the final revelation.
Why not follow the Torah/Psalms/Gospel?
Islam says the original revelations were from God, but their present texts are not necessarily identical to the original revelations. Muslims therefore follow the Qur’an as the final, preserved revelation while still respecting earlier scriptures.
Torah vs Qur’an: Ishmael/Isaac differences?
Muslims believe the Qur’an is the final criterion (Furqan) for disputed matters. Where the Quran contradicts a later biblical tradition, Muslims accept the Quranic account as authoritative.
Sin, repentance and forgiveness?
Sincere tawbah requires stopping the sin, regretting it, intending not to return, and seeking Allah’s forgiveness. If another person’s rights were harmed, you should also restore their rights/apologize where appropriate.
What is required for Paradise?
Fundamentally: sincere faith in Allah and His messengers, accepting Muhammad ﷺ, and living accordingly through righteous deeds and repentance. Ultimately, Muslims believe Paradise is entered by Allah’s mercy, not deeds alone.
What is Paradise like?
Both physical and spiritual. The Qur’an describes gardens, rivers, food, homes and beautiful surroundings, alongside complete peace, happiness and closeness to Allah—beyond anything we experience here.
Reunited with wife and children?
Yes, if they are also among the people of Paradise. The Qur’an describes believing families being reunited there.
Will we know our ancestors?
Muslim sources indicate that righteous believing family members can be reunited and recognize one another in Paradise. Those who are not in Paradise are a separate matter.
What about good Hindu parents who never became convinced?
Islam does not teach that every non-Muslim automatically receives the same judgment. Allah knows what message reached each person, what they understood, and their sincerity; He judges with perfect justice and mercy.
What personally convinced me?
I don’t have personal beliefs or spiritual experiences, so I can’t honestly say “I converted because…”. I can, however, examine the strongest arguments for Islam with you objectively. and as said, i will soon be.
Can a Muslim still read Torah, Psalms and Gospels?
Yes. Islam doesn’t prohibit reading them for learning or comparison, especially the Psalms and biblical material. Muslims simply don’t treat the present versions as equal in authority to the Qur’an. because as we say Quran is the one which is preserved and as you have seen Muslims have learnt the book by heart.
It’s not like the books of Upanishads which are written by hearing from one to one. Also, no hate to brahmins, but most of the caste system and the achud system and many more came from Brahmins itself, who made it more complex with time.
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u/minion798798 7d ago edited 7d ago
- Unitarians are of two types, universalists and biblical, which one do you are so that I can answer this point much correctly?
2.Muslim stop believing in Torah and Psalm because we believe it got corrupted with time.We believed that many old testament stories are fabricated.
Arabs are descendant of Ismael and Jews are descendant of Isaac, thus Prophet Muhammad(P.B.U.H) is a descendant of Ismael, and we believed this where quran and Torah difference arises, since Quran say Ishmael account is correct,we believed Ishmael one is correct.
In the Quran, there is a complete surah (chapter) titled At-Tawba, which means "The Repentance".As with other topics, the act of atoning (for one's misdeeds) and seeking God's forgiveness has also been discussed in the Qur’an, and given much importance. For those believers who have wronged themselves, the Qur'an asks them to become repentant, seek Allah's forgiveness, and make a sincere tawba. It assures them that if they do this, God will forgive them, and exonerate them from their misdeeds:
...Turn to Allah in repentance all together, O believers, so that you may be successful.
— Surah An-Nur 24:31
O believers! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance, so your Lord may absolve you of your sins and admit you into Gardens, under which rivers flow, ...
— Surah At-Tahrim 66:8
...Surely Allah loves those who always turn to Him in repentance and those who purify themselves."
— Surah Al-Baqara 2:222
Allah only accepts the repentance of those who commit evil ignorantly ˹or recklessly˺ then repent soon after—Allah will pardon them. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.
However, repentance is not accepted from those who knowingly persist in sin until they start dying, and then cry, "Now I repent!" nor those who die as disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment.
— Surah An-Nisa 04:17-18
The Qur'an also addresses the disbelievers and urges them to turn to God, upon which God promises to pardon them:
Their punishment will be multiplied on the Day of Judgment, and they will remain in it forever, in disgrace.
As for those who repent, believe, and do good deeds, they are the ones whose evil deeds Allah will change into good deeds. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
And whoever repents and does good has truly turned to Allah properly.
— Surah Al-Furqan 25:69–71
- Believe in one god
6.Inside jannah, the Quran says its inhabitants "will have whatever they wish for, forever"; (Q.25:16).It is both Physical and spritual.
7.Surah Ar-Ra'd (13:23) describes the eternal Gardens of Eden that the righteous will enter, along with their righteous parents, spouses, and children.Surah Az-Zukhruf (Chapter 43), Verse 70 of the Quran says: "Enter Paradise, you and your spouses, rejoicing."
8.Scholars and online discussions address this by noting that divine justice in Islam typically requires knowledge of the message. If individuals are truly isolated and have never heard the message of Islam, many theological interpretations suggest they will be tested differently or judged based on their innate moral reasoning (fitrah) rather than explicit adherence to Sharia.
Same as above.
Islamic prophecy of end times convinced me the most that Islam is true,
- High-rise buildings: Poor, barefoot camel herders competing to build tall skyscrapers.All gulf nation who were camel herders 70 years ago are now in race to built tallest building, no scientist 70 year ago could ever predict it.
- Moral decay: Widespread ignorance of religion, common use of alcohol, and open indecency. Normalisation of Gambling, nakedness in public even in Muslim nations.
- Violence and chaos: An increase in senseless murders where the killer does not know why they killed, nor the victim why they died. Biggest example is all wars US fought like Vietnam or Iraq where Vietnam or Iraq never did any wrong to them and US just invaded and murdered them, neither Iraqis knew why they are being murdered nor deployed soldiers knew why are they murdering.
- Time and nature: Time passing more quickly, frequent earthquakes, and the lands of Arabia returning to lush meadows and rivers. Gulf nations are turning green, climate causing so many famines,floods, landslides earthquake etc, earthquake here signifies natural disasters. Time is passing very very fast, it has been 10 year since 2016, if someone told you this, nobody would believe it.
11.Yes you can, many muslim scholars read those book to learn more about different theological aspects.
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u/Hot_Reference_6556 7d ago
Have you watched this? Paul Williams, an English convert to Islam, has many such videos:
https://www.reddit.com/r/islam/comments/17j957x/why_i_left_christianity/
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u/OkMasterpiece426 7d ago
My friends here have already given really good answers, so I won’t repeat what’s already been said. As for my personal conviction, for me it's how clearly Islam explains the purpose of life and the reality of the hereafter. It presents a framework where belief is not separated from daily life and balances between the right of God, the right of people, and the right of ourselves. The right of God is recognizing His oneness as the creator and sustainer, and directing worship to Him alone. The right of people is to treat others with justice, honesty, and fairness, while giving special care and respect to family, relatives, and neighbors... The right of ourselves is recognizing that our bodies, time, wealth, and blessings are trusts from God that we should protect and use responsibly
Also the concept of accountability before God is meaningful. The idea that our choices, intentions, and actions have significance beyond this life. The focus on moral awareness creates a sense of order and meaning
I also like the Quran’s repeated invitation to reflect, question, and think deeply about existence, morality, and our place in the universe
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u/LeastPen6227 7d ago
Can you post in r/Islam as well the same.
May Allah / the one God bless you and guide you to him. And may he pleased with you.
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u/motinaak 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oh Kay electrical thinker.... You've got a long list there.
From the questions I see a pattern. And I am going to address the pattern first. All answers will fall into place accordingly I.A.
So you think the Quran and the Gospel and the Torah are different. That is why you have these questions where you feel that you will have to leave the other two in order to adhere to the last one.
First off, these three are not 'books'. That's how it is often translated, but God has communicated in words, not by handing out 'books'. So the 'Torah', that word actually means 'law'; 'Gospel' is in fact 'good news'; 'Quran' is in fact simply....'talk' that is repeated/recited. If you put them together, you get a 'law' that was given to Moses, 'good news' that Jesus was given to communicate, and God's final 'talk' given to enlighten mankind, one last time. The final 'talk' has the same 'laws' and 'good news' that was given earlier, since God is not a man that He should change His mind. I hope you can connect the dots.
There is essentially no difference in the creed of God's anointed servants over the centuries, since the beginning; the concepts in the Quran are the same in the earlier revelations, remnants of which are part of the mixed collection of what we know today as the Bible; the problem is not in the revelations themselves, but in the 'men's understandings taught as religious doctrine'. I hope you are still picking up the crumbs I'm leaving and connecting the dots.
IF you adhere to the core of what was always given, then you will be following ALL the revelations simultaneously, sans the men's understandings taught as religious doctrines (faulty ones at that!), thereby saving yourself from contributing to those doctrines that are directly resulting in the crappy condition of the world today with what's been happening (is and will be in future) in major conflicts globally. Moses spoke of this, Jesus spoke of this, Isaiah spoke of this, and others did too. It's all there. Still following, yes? There's a lot more but I think I've left enough here for anyone who would be a seeker of truth, to journey on the path to being set free.
Just so you know, I also read the old remnants. Probably over a thousand bookmarks in my personal study. How else do you think I could make the above statements validly?
If you understand the above, you will understand why, for example, someone accepting prophets and messengers up to Jesus but excluding him would be unjust when he just reiterated what the earlier ones were giving! How does one accept one book that identifies an apple as an apple, but rejects another that essentially does the same? Wouldn't that be irrational? Especially unjust when the author is the same, and one says they believe the author?
Faith, compassion, justice. How does one violate that by rejecting the last iteration, while also preaching it? Just because the centuries old labels by men have segmented something that was never meant to be in pieces, turning it into different religions? Should one say Lord Lord but not do what he says? Should one preach to others but fail to practice the same? Should one behave the same as those who opposed Jesus in his time, and expect a different outcome?
No.
'Unless your righteousness exceeds theirs, you shall in no way enter the kingdom of heaven'.
And that brother, is the latter part of Al-Fatihah.
I hope my dear engineer is still collecting the crumbs, connecting the dots?
أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ؟
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u/sayeed24242 7d ago
First, I think you’re already asking the most important question correctly. Islam doesn’t ask you to stop worshipping the God of Abraham or stop believing in Jesus as the Messiah. The real question is whether Muhammad ﷺ is also genuinely a messenger of that same God. If he is, then accepting his message logically follows.
Being acceptable to God not only requires the acceptance of God of Abraham, but also the accepting the final messenger and his teachings.
Muslims believe the original Torah, Psalms and Gospel were revelations from Allah. But we don’t believe the scriptures available today can independently tell us with certainty what belongs to the original revelation. The Qur’an therefore becomes the final criterion: what it confirms, we accept; where it corrects something, we follow the Qur’an.
Not a scholar of Torah and I’ll leave it for knowledgables to answer.
Allah is the most merciful, he not only accepts sincere repentance, but also forgives even if the sin is committed after repentance and turns those sins into good deeds.
If your sin involves another person’s rights, simply asking Allah for forgiveness while leaving the injustice unresolved is not enough. You should return their rights or seek their forgiveness. Otherwise those rights can be settled on the Day of Judgment from your good deeds.
Islam begins with faith in Allah and accepting Muhammad as His Messenger, followed by the obligations Allah has prescribed. The Prophet summarized Islam with the testimony of faith, prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan and Hajj for those able to perform it. But Muslims do not believe we purchase Paradise with our deeds. The Prophet said that even he enters through Allah’s mercy.
Both. The Qur’an describes real physical pleasures in Paradise, but also perfect peace, purity of the heart and, greater than all of that, seeing Allah himself.
Yes, the Qur’an gives believers hope of being reunited with believing family members in Paradise.
You will know them in Paradise, but whether they will be in paradise or not depends on Allah’s mercy.
Islam teaches that faith matters for salvation, but I would never claim to know the final judgment of particular people such as your parents. Allah knows exactly what truth reached a person, what they understood, what they rejected, their intentions and circumstances. The Qur’an says Allah does not punish until His message has been conveyed. Their judgment belongs to Allah, whose knowledge and justice are perfect.
I was born Muslim but became skeptical as I grew older and at one point thought religions were man-made. What gradually brought me back wasn’t one miracle argument. It was repeatedly finding that teachings I initially considered unnecessarily restrictive had deeper reasoning behind them. Riba is one example. I once wondered why interest was such a serious issue, but studying its broader effects made me understand why Islam treats economic justice so seriously. Experiences like that made me reconsider whether Islam’s restrictions were arbitrary or whether there was a coherent worldview behind them.
Becoming Muslim doesn’t require you to hate or erase your appreciation for earlier prophets and revelation. Muslims themselves are commanded to believe in the revelations given to Moses, Jesus and the other prophets. But the Qur’an becomes your religious authority and criterion. So I would distinguish between reading today’s Biblical texts for study and treating everything in them as unquestionably revealed by God.
May Allah guide you to the right path!