Death to Deserters

Posted by Nonie Darwish on Jul 14th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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“God has commanded us to kill those who leave Islam.” These are the words of Islamic scholar Sheikh Youssef Al-Badri, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Egypt, which were stated on Egyptian television. The interior minister of Egypt agrees with the Sheikh and is quoted in a newspaper saying: “Converts are to be killed.” Islamic scholars and the majority of public opinion in Egypt all agree with them — conversion to Christianity is a mortal sin legally punishable by death.

Such statements are considered by many to be a legal death warrant, allowing the murder of apostates wherever they are. They cause much fear and panic not only to those who leave Islam in Muslim countries, but also to those who leave Islam in the West.

Whereas in the West, religion is considered a matter of personal faith and conviction, being a Muslim is not a personal matter. As you will see from the video below, it is a no-win legal matter with the state. Being a Muslim is not a private relationship with Allah, but a contract with the state in which the citizen must surrender to Islamic law whether he is a Muslim or not.

Three former Muslims are featured in the video: Maher El Gohary and his fourteen year-old daughter, whose original petition to officially practice Christianity in Egypt was rejected; the third is Mohammed Higazy, whose petition to become Christian instead of Muslim was also rejected. Higazy also filed a lawsuit to have the right as a parent to state on his newborn son’s birth certificate that he is Christian, or give him a Christian name. That was also rejected. The statement on his son’s birth certificate declaring that the baby was Muslim, was forced by the government against the parents’ will. All of these former Muslims converted to Christianity years ago, but are still officially Muslims on all their government IDs and passports.

El Gohary’s daughter is forced to attend Islamic classes at her public schools, and because she is officially a Muslim, she can never marry a Christian man. That is the law in a so-called moderate Muslim country like Egypt.

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