Egyptian grand mufti says Muslims can convert
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article....ticle_id=84053
CAIRO: Egypt’s official religious adviser has ruled that Muslims are free to change their faith as it is a matter between an individual and God, in a move which could have far-reaching implications for the country’s Christians. “The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can,” Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said in a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek forum picked up by the Egyptian press on Tuesday.
“The act of abandoning one’s religion is a sin punishable by God on the Day of Judgment. If the case in question is one of merely rejecting one’s faith, then there is no worldly punishment,” he wrote.
In many Muslim societies, converts to other religions are considered apostates and can be subject to capital punishment.
Gomaa said that if the conversions undermine the “foundations of society” then it must be dealt with by the judicial system, without elaborating.
Attempts by Muslims in Egypt to convert to other religions have been hindered by the state’s refusal to recognize the change in official documents and in some cases have led to arrests and imprisonment.
“Even though it is not a criminal offense in Egypt, they get detained under emergency laws or are put on trial for contempt of religion if they wish to convert,” said Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
“This [ruling] is significant, especially coming from Gomaa,” he added.
“Between 2004 and now there have been many court cases involving Christian converts to Islam that want to convert back to Christianity who are unable to do so,” said Bahgat, who is involved with a case of 12 former Copts who converted to Islam and are now trying to revert.
A spokesman for Dar al- Iftaa, the body headed by Gomaa which is responsible for issuing religious opinions, maintained that the mufti’s stance has not changed.
“The posting is consistent with the mufti’s past fatwas,” he told AFP. “Apostasy is only punishable when it is considered akin to subversion.”
The issue of apostasy is a thorny one in the Islamic world, with one extremist interpretation declaring that apostates should be killed.
“The punishment for apostasy is controversial,” judge Ahmad Mekky, the deputy head of Egypt’s Supreme Court, told AFP. “There is nothing in any Koranic text about this.”
The case of the 12 Copts, whose request to revert was denied by a lower court in April, goes in front of the Supreme Court in September, and Bahgat said they will use Gomaa’s posting to bolster their case.
“Gomaa is a civil servant, the top religious adviser of the state, and technically speaking the deputy justice minister,” he said. “So his views on the matter carry authority.”
Comment:
It seems the Government scholars are getting worse by the day, initially they justified non-Islamic ruling, then American bases in the Muslim lands and now this fatwa.
I wonder how they would feel if a family member became a Christian, Jew, Hindu etc?
And where is the evidence from the Quran and Sunnah to allow such actions?
Also will these apostates be accounted by Allah on the day of judgement or will they be judged based upon how much of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism they followed?
Can people leave Islam and become atheists or satanists?
And can Muslims especially women marry these non-Muslims?
LB