That’s what he said:
| No one ever leaves Islam, according to a judge in Egypt who has cited Islamic religious law in rejecting a request from a Muslim convert to Christianity to be allowed to change his religious affiliation on his national identification card.
In a decision that forecasts more and more decisions being based on Shari’a, Islam’s religious law, Judge Muhammad Husseini has concluded it violates the law for a Muslim to leave Islam. According to a report from Compass Direct News, the judge found that the convert, Muhammad Hegazy, “can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can’t convert.” |
After reading that, I wondered: “So what? Does it even matter?”
Then I read this:
| The website, which said it took its name from Quranic descriptions of Christians and Jews, said Westerners don’t realize the significance of having a national ID card listing the carrier as Muslim.
“If you get caught going to a church while your religion on your ID is Muslim, that could get you arrested, questioned and tortured,” the commentary said. “The latest victim was a 27-year-old woman, Mrs. Sherreen, mother of two children from Alexandria, Egypt. She died at the police station on Jan. 3, 2008, after five hours of torture for refusing to renounce her Christian faith and come back to Islam.” The website noted in Egypt, children of parents with Muslim IDs automatically are Muslims, and they are required to follow mandatory Islamic indoctrination classes, and Muslims cannot marry non-Muslims. |