How does someone become a Muslim?

Islam is entered by a sentence you understand and mean — not by a ritual someone performs on you.

The shahāda has two halves. The first, lā ilāha illā Allāh, is not merely “God exists”; it is that nothing else deserves worship at all. “So know, O Muḥammad, that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women. And Allah knows of your movement and your resting place.” (Qur’an 47:19)

The second half — that Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allah — is what makes the first one actionable. It is how you know what worship Allah actually asked for, rather than what seems reasonable to you.

Three things commonly worry people, and none of them is an obstacle:

1. You do not have to be perfect first. Nobody arrives clean. The shahāda is where you start, not a reward for having finished.

2. You do not need Arabic. Say it in Arabic if you can, and in your own language if you cannot. Understanding and meaning it is the condition; pronunciation is not.

3. You do not need a mosque, an imam, or a certificate. Mosques issue certificates because they are useful later for practical matters — a Hajj visa, marriage paperwork — not because your Islam depends on one.

What is recommended next, in this order: a full wash (ghusl), then learning wudū’ and the five daily prayers — because prayer is the first obligation that becomes due.

And one thing worth saying plainly: no person can accept or reject your Islam on Allah’s behalf. Sahih al-Bukhari 8 lists the shahāda as the first of the five things Islam is built on, and it is the only one that takes effect the instant you mean it.