Muslims 'free to change faith'

2007-07-24 14:38

Cairo - Egypt's official religious advisor 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.

Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said: "The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can."

Gomaa was quoted in a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek forum picked up by the Egyptian press on Tuesday.

He wrote: "The act of abandoning one's religion is a sin punishable by God on the Day of Judgement. If the case in question is one of merely rejecting faith, then there is no worldly punishment."

In many Muslim societies, those who converted to another religion were considered apostates and could be subject to capital punishment.

Emergency laws

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 had been hindered by the state's refusal to recognise the change in official documents and in some cases had led to arrests and imprisonment.

Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said: "Even though it is not a criminal offence in Egypt, they get detained under emergency laws or are put on trial for contempt of religion if they wish to convert.

"This ruling is significant, especially coming from Gomaa. 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."

Apostasy threatens public order

Bahgat, who was involved with a case of 12 former Christians who converted to Islam and were now trying to revert, said that Gomaa's previous fatwas on the issue said apostasy threatened public order.

The current opinion opened the possibility of converting without threatening "the foundations of society".

A spokesperson for Dar al-Iftaa, the body headed by Gomaa which was responsible for issuing religious opinions, maintained that the mufti's stance had not changed.

He said: "The posting is consistent with the mufti's past fatwas. Apostasy is only punishable when it is considered akin to subversion."

The issue of apostasy was a thorny one in the Islamic world, with one extremist interpretation declaring that apostates should be killed.

Judge Ahmed Mekky, the deputy head of Egypt's Supreme Court, said: "The punishment for apostasy is controversial. There is nothing in any Koranic text about this."

Instead the texts talked about apostates who were put to death for treachery - a political rather than religious crime.

- AFP