Egypt: Mufti Banishes Death Penalty For Apostasy

Thanks to Ali Eteraz for sending this over to me. Ali says, "This is a huge day."

I agree. This is very clear progress.


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.

“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.

“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,” he wrote.
In most Muslim countries, Muslims who convert to another religion are considered apostates and can be subject to capital punishment.

Mr Gomaa warned however 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 recognise the change in official documents and in some cases have led to arrests and imprisonment.


The only caution I would urge is that we need to remember that Turkey which had been, and perhaps still is, the most moderate Muslim country in the greater Middle East, recently held elections which resulted in a huge swing towards Islamism.

My point being that Islamism sometimes seems like the hand that comes up from the grave in the old horror B-movie.