It was reported yesterday that Egypt's top cleric, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, had said that moslems can indeed change their religion:
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"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 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 faith, then there is no worldly punishment," he wrote.
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Today it is being reported that Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa is denying that he ever said such a thing:
Top cleric denies 'freedom to choose religion' comment
By Ramadan Al Sherbini
Cairo: Egypt's top cleric yesterday denied in a statement that he had said a Muslim can give up his faith without punishment.
Ali Goma'a, the mufti of Egypt, was quoted as saying in a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek forum that Muslims are free to change their faith and this is a matter between an individual and God.
"What I actually said is that Islam prohibits a Muslim from changing his religion and that apostasy is a crime, which must be punished," Goma'a said.
The alleged fatwa coincides with an uproar over the case of 12 Egyptians who converted to Islam from Christianity and now want to re-embrace Christianity. "There is a campaign by secularists to distort the image of Dr Ali Goma'a," a senior official in Al Azhar told Gulf News.
"He cannot deny punishment in this life for the apostate," said Mustafa Al Chaka of the Islamic Research Centre.
Pertinent Links:
1) Top cleric denies 'freedom to choose religion' comment
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