The Cow
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[2:256]
THERE SHALL BE no coercion in matters of faith.
Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error: hence, he who rejects the powers of evil and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give way: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing.

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* v.256 : The term dīn denotes both the contents of and the compliance with a morally binding law; consequently, it signifies “religion” in the widest sense of this term, extending over all that pertains to its doctrinal contents and their practical implications, as well as to man’s attitude towards the object of his worship, thus comprising also the concept of “faith.” The rendering of dīn as “religion,” “faith,” “religious law,” or “moral law” (see note 3 on 109:6) depends on the context in which this term is used. – On the strength of the above categorical prohibition of coercion (ikrāh) in anything that pertains to faith or religion, all Islamic jurists (fuqahā’), without any exception, hold that forcible conversion is under all circumstances null and void, and that any attempt at coercing a non-believer to accept the faith of Islam is a grievous sin: a verdict which disposes of the widespread fallacy that Islam places before the unbelievers the alternative of “conversion or the sword.”
* At-tāghūt denotes, primarily, anything that is worshipped instead of God and, thus, all that may turn man away from God and lead him to evil. It has both a singular and a plural significance (Rāzī) and is, therefore, best rendered as “the powers of evil.”