Wednesday, July 25, 2007

DAR AL ISLAM - EGYPT: ISLAM PROHIBITS A MOSLEM FROM CHANGING HIS RELIGION & APOSTASY IS A CRIME THAT MUST BE PUNISHED (BY DEATH)

***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***

It was reported yesterday that Egypt's top cleric, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, had said that moslems can indeed change their religion:

...


"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.

...


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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