Returning to Islam: a realistic route back

Where do you start when returning to Islam?

This is for someone who has drifted in practice, or stopped, whether for a month or for years. The order below is the Ilmwell team's suggestion for a way back. None of the sources below sets it, and each step stands on its own if you would rather begin somewhere else.

1. Turn back to Allah.
2. Take up the prayer again, starting with the next one.
3. Keep it small and steady, one thing at a time.
4. Learn again, a little at a time.
5. Find people to go with.

How do you turn back to Allah?

The first step is turning back. Az-Zumar 39:53 is addressed to people who have been prodigal against themselves, and tells them not to despair of Allah's mercy.

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet said Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than one of you is when he comes upon his camel after losing it in the desert.

1AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 6309

The report gives a comparison. It gives no steps, no number of times and no verdict on any person's repentance.

Al-Nawawi, in his book Riyad al-salihin, reports what the scholars said about the conditions of repentance (source 6). They are set out in Tawbah: understanding repentance, with the verses and reports on repeating a sin.

Seeking forgiveness in words is covered in Astaghfirullah and Sayyidul istighfar.

How do you start praying again?

In the hadith (report of the Prophet's words) of Jibril, the Prophet named five things when asked about Islam. The prayer is the second, after the testimony of faith (Sahih Muslim 8, graded sahih).

2AuthenticSahih Muslim 8

The hadith lists the prayer and does not say where to begin when coming back to it.

A suggestion, not a ruling: begin with the next prayer to come in, rather than a plan for the whole day. That does not say whether missed prayers need making up. How to pray Salah gives the sequence, How to perform wudu the ritual washing before it, and How many rakats are in each prayer the rakats (units of prayer) in each one. How to pray Fajr covers the dawn prayer.

Whether or how to make up prayers missed over a long gap is not covered here, and the Ilmwell team has not set out the schools' positions on it. It is a question for a scholar you trust.

How do you make it a habit that lasts?

'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that the Prophet was asked which of the deeds is most loved by Allah. He answered that it is the most constant of them, even if it is little. He also said to take on the deeds you are able to bear.

3AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 6465

The report is about deeds in general. It names no deed and says nothing about restarting after a gap.

Suggestions from the Ilmwell team, not from a source:

• Pin a new habit to something that already happens. Say the kettle goes on at the same time every morning: that is a cue you already have.
• Add one thing, keep it for a while, then add the next.

How do you start learning again?

Ta-Ha 20:114 ends with a supplication: "My Lord! Increase me in knowledge." The supplication asks for more knowledge. It sets no syllabus.

One order for rereading the basics, again as a suggestion: What is Islam for the overview, the five pillars of Islam, then how to understand the Quran. How to become Muslim sets out the testimony and early lessons in the order a new Muslim might meet them. The lessons are open to anyone.

Who can help you return?

Abu Musa, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet gave the example of a good person to sit with and a bad one as a person carrying musk and a person blowing a blacksmith's bellows. The musk carrier will give you some, or you will buy some, or you will find a good smell from him. The bellows blower will burn your clothes, or you will find a bad smell from him.

4AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 5534

The example concerns people you sit with, in general. It names no mosque, group or study circle. The first clause of Al-Kahf 18:28 reads: "Restrain yourself along with those who cry to their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Countenance." Only that clause is used here. The rest of the verse is not applied.

Suggestion: a mosque near you, a class or one friend who prays are places to start, and none of them is named in these sources. Asking someone you already know to go with you the first time is one way to make it lighter.

What is general learning, and what needs a scholar?

General learning means what the Quran and the hadith say and, where a scholar's account is quoted, whose it is. It cannot rule on your own situation. Questions about your own past or your own circumstances, including the missed prayers above, are for a scholar you trust.