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I'm from Algeria, but I'm now living in France. I was born as a Muslim, but since I was 13, I realized that Islam wasn't for me. Since two years, I'm now looking for a new religion, and from what I've read, Judaism interested me much more than other religions. However, I'm still young (almost 19yo), and I'm really afraid of the reactions of my family (they're almost all Muslims). I know that religions are not games, and I'm sure that I want to learn more about Judaism.

What does Judaism says about religious conversion from Islam?

Isaac Moses
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Anonymous93
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    Anonymous93, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks for bringing your question here! Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features. – Isaac Moses Nov 21 '12 at 15:50
  • Can you tell us what intrigued you about Judaism in sepcific and what made you feel that Islam is not for you? – Maxood Nov 21 '12 at 15:51
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    Anonymous93, you should probably check out this question and its answers http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/7210/759 – Double AA Nov 21 '12 at 15:52
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    @Maxood That isn't really relevant for this question which is not about his specific case, but about what Judaism says about religious conversion from Islam in general. – Double AA Nov 21 '12 at 15:53
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    Anonymous93, for personal advice, I recommend that you look into contacting either a local rabbi or a local Noahide (believers in Judaism, but not members of the Jewish Nation) community. A particularly ubiquitous source of the former in France and pretty much everywhere is Chabad. For the latter, Google found me this French group. – Isaac Moses Nov 21 '12 at 15:59
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    @DoubleAA The asker does appreciate that he is stll young (almost 19). So he should be guided not just replied biasedly! – Maxood Nov 21 '12 at 16:01
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    @Maxood, Mi Yodeya does not provide personal guidance. It does provide information about Judaism to any who ask for it. – Isaac Moses Nov 21 '12 at 16:03
  • @IsaacMoses Fine! The asker is wise eonogh to seek "religious guidance", not a personal one. – Maxood Nov 21 '12 at 16:08
  • You don't have to "convert". You can ben a pious non-Jew and/or be a ger. However, you will not be accepted into the community unless you go through the ger tzedek process. Until you do this, you will most likely be treated as a nochri. – EhevuTov Jul 08 '15 at 00:00

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Regarding conversion to Judaism in general, the answers to this question (mentioned by DoubleAA in the comments here) provide ample coverage. I recommend that you read them all, but here are some main points:

  • Jewish Law provides a mechanism for people who are not members of the Jewish Nation to become members - conversion. It's not easy, and it's actually not encouraged.

  • People who are not members of the Jewish nation are encouraged to follow the dictates of Noahidism.

Regarding conversion from Islam in particular, I'm pretty sure that contemporary Jewish Law makes no distinction based on the religious or national origin of the would-be convert. One indication of this would be that Maimonides (a major authority on Jewish Law), who was very familiar with and wrote about Judaism's attitude toward Islam, made no distinction about origin when offering (Laws of Kings 10:11/9) exactly two options, according to Jewish Law, for non-Jews - the two listed above.

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Isaac Moses
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    Just FYI: I know some rabbis who are used to dealing with ex-Christians who will ask as part of the conversion ceremony -- "do you reject the Trinity?" For an ex-Muslim the thought process is more like "same G-d, different prophet and message." The requirements are still the same, though. – Shalom Jan 30 '13 at 12:22