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Yes, all of them: Islam erases what preceded it. The nuances to know: the rights of persons to repair, and the attitude to have after conversion.
Yes, all of them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Islam erases what preceded it" (Sahih Muslim 121). By becoming Muslim, your record starts again at zero: the former sins, even grave, will not be asked of you.
Two points demand attention: returning what is due to persons (debts, goods taken or borrowed), and not telling or minimizing these sins after conversion.
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Updated on 17 October 2026 at 9:55 PM
📖 2 min readWhen Amr ibn al-As came to convert, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: "Do you not know that Islam erases what preceded it, that emigration erases what preceded it, and that pilgrimage erases what preceded it?" (Sahih Muslim 121). That is the convert's rule: your sins from before Islam, whatever they are, are erased and will not be asked of you on the Day of Judgment.
The Quran confirms it with words of rare gentleness: "O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of Allah’s mercy, for indeed Allah forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful" (Quran 39:53). And for whoever converts and does good: "except those who repent and believe, and do righteous deeds; for them Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds" (Quran 25:70): the convert's forgiveness goes as far as transforming his past into capital of good deeds.
Allah's forgiveness concerns Allah's rights. The rights of humans remain attached to those who are their creditors:
If the person is untraceable or deceased, the scholars recommend giving the equivalent as alms in his favour. The essential is that your conversion does not become a means of escaping what you owe to people: Islam erases sins, never injustice toward others.
No. The religious duties prior to conversion are erased with the sins: that is the scholars' position for whoever enters Islam.
The scholars recommend, when the creditor is untraceable, to give an equivalent amount as alms in his favour. The effort of repair counts as much as the sum.
It is frequent and it testifies to your seriousness. But the hadith is clear: Islam erases what preceded it (Sahih Muslim 121). To doubt this forgiveness is to doubt Allah's promise, which never fails.