The Nature of Birth and Belief: What is Islam and Why Are We Born as Muslims?
Only Allah knows why a soul is born in a certain household and at a certain stage in the human history. However, the religious obligation is only for a mature person who makes a conscious choice for a religion. The following hadith describes this belief and Islam:
It was narrated on the authority of Umar may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
While we were one day sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), there appeared before us a man dressed in extremely white clothes and with very black hair. No traces of journeying were visible on him, and none of us knew him. He sat down close by the Prophet (peace be upon him), rested his knee against his thighs, and said,
“The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, ‘What is your news, O man? ’
He (the man) said, ‘May I be Your ransom, O Messenger of Allah, I discuss what I have not brought to you. I inform you what is among the people of the Orchard that I have seen—how they make mention in it of their Lord, how they ask forgiveness for their sin, and how they say, “We are Muslims in submission to the Lord of the Worlds.”
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, Indeed the best of Muslim men is one whom people meet with peace and part with tranquility.
He (the man) said, ‘May I be Your ransom, Messenger of Allah, I shall inform you of what is among those in the shade of the Pillar that I have seen.’
Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds.
What is Islam?
Islam is a 7th-century religion that began in the Arabic peninsula, specifically in Mecca and Medina. You are born a Muslim if you are born into an observant Muslim family or if you are part of a world where the dominant religious ideology is Muslim. However, for context, I am not Muslim nor have I ever been. I was born into an Assyrian Christian family and grew up in the Church of the East. In terms of my beliefs, I am currently an Atheist but I still have cultural and emotional ties to the Church.
Why Are We All Born as Muslims?
In Islam, there is a fundamental belief that God created the universe according to a set of rules and strictures. The Earth orbits around the sun in 365.24 days and it does this unceasingly. Trees grow, bear fruit, and live, and they go through this cycle unceasingly. Volcanoes erupt according to preordained rules and edicts. Everything in the universe behaves in accordance with these rules and systems, and everything is at peace.
According to this belief, all people are born in this state of nature with an inborn dependence on God, making them Muslims. However, since humans have free will and can readily defy God, God created humans with a special role and a special purpose just like everything else. It is mankind’s duty to submit to this role and to submit to God’s purpose. It is mankind’s duty to achieve peace just as everything else in the universe is in a state of peace. Accordingly, it is only by acculturation that people are brought up in different and false religions. For this reason, Muslims claim that a person who converts to Islam is actually “reverting to Islam” since Islam was the person’s original status, and this reversion is in keeping with his duty as a God-created person.
This is not the perception of most non-Muslims, myself included. We hold that babies have no religions because they have no conception of the supernatural and are certainly incapable of understanding the abstract concepts of belief, theory of mind, temporality, or natural harmony. A person under this rubric becomes a Muslim if and only if he 1. accepts the doctrine of the religion, 2. undergoes a proper conversion ceremony, or 3. considers himself a part of the Muslim community.
Further Resources
Much more can be written or said on the topic, but I would recommend watching Khan Academy’s videos on Islamic topics, which offer general overviews. You can find them on their website or on YouTube.