Egyptian Mufti Denies Saying Muslims Are Free to Change Religion

Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 10:19:02 am PDT

Another Islamist being heavily promoted by Newsweek and the Washington Post, Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, was quoted on the WaPo web site as saying that Muslims are free to change their religion. No such thing as a death penalty for apostasy. Kumbaya, my brothers.

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 on Tuesday.

“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.

Just one little problem.

That may be what the infidels want to hear, but it’s not what he really believes.

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.

(Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

Recent LGF entries featuring Newsweek/Washington Post writer Ali Gomaa:
Weird Meta-Fatwa of the Day
Weird Meta-Fatwa Apology of the Day
Gross-Out Fatwa of the Day