Short answer
Both words are correct and both mean a person who has accepted Islam. Many Muslims prefer revert because the Prophet ﷺ taught that every child is born on the fitrah, a natural belief in one God, so accepting Islam feels like a return. Convert is the normal English word and is not wrong.
There is no fiqh ruling about the English word. In Islamic law a person who accepts Islam is simply a Muslim, with exactly the same rights and duties as someone born into a Muslim family. Arabic speakers just say that he or she aslama: accepted Islam.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Convert means someone who changes from one faith to another. Revert means someone who returns. Muslims who use revert take it from the hadith that every child is born on the fitrah (the natural disposition to know and worship the one God), and from the Quran's teaching that all souls affirmed Allah as their Lord before birth. On this view, a person who accepts Islam is coming home to what they were made for.
Some new Muslims prefer convert. It is the word their families and colleagues understand, and it honours the real journey they made. Scholars point out that the fitrah hadith describes a natural inclination, not a legal status: in Islamic law a child takes the religion of the parents in this world, as the same hadith goes on to say. So both words describe the same reality, and neither is a matter of belief or fiqh.
What matters far more is that there is no second rank of Muslims. Almost the whole first generation, including Khadijah, Abu Bakr and Umar, accepted Islam as adults. The Quran and Sunnah never treat them as lesser than those born later into Muslim homes.
- Use whichever word the person prefers for themselves.
- New Muslim is a neutral, kind choice for the first years.
- Do not correct someone who says convert. It is not a mistake.
For the steps of entering Islam, see how to convert to Islam, the shahada and our new Muslim guide.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Ar-Room 30:30
فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًۭا ۚ فِطْرَتَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِى فَطَرَ ٱلنَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾
So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.
Every person is created with a natural disposition toward the one God, the root of the word revert.
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:172
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَٰذَا غَٰفِلِينَ ﴿١٧٢﴾
And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware."
All souls affirmed Allah as their Lord before coming into this world.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1358
Sahih... ما من مولود إلا يولد على الفطرة فأبواه يهودانه ...
"Every child is born upon the fitrah, then his parents make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian."
The source of the idea that accepting Islam is a return to one's natural state.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.