Al-Bara’ bin Azib narrated:

A man whose face was covered with an iron mask (i.e. clad in armor) came to the Prophet and said,

 "O Allah's Apostle! Shall I fight or embrace Islam first?

 "The Prophet said,

 "Embrace Islam first and then fight."

 So, he embraced Islam, and was martyred.

Allah's Apostle said, A Little work, but a great reward.”

(Bukhari/Jihad 13)

*

The hadith above indicates that before good deeds and worship, it is necessary to believe and become a Muslim. A person who believes and dies after a short time has a lot of benefits because of his belief even if has few good deeds. To die as a believer ensures him the eternal Paradise and endless bliss.

Embracing Islam Cleans the Past

From Amr bin As:

“There is no doubt that Islam eradicates all of the sins that a person committed before he embraced Islam.

(Ahmad bin Hanbal/Musnad IV, 199)

*

There is glad tiding that when a person embraces Islam, he is regarded as if he has been born again, that all of his sins in his past life are forgiven by Allah. This glad tiding of forgiveness is a great encouragement for embracing Islam and a guarantee of being cleared from all of the sins.