Conversion From Islam and the Watershed Pronouncement of the Egyptian Mufti

The act of abandoning one’s religion is a sin punishable by God on the Day of Judgement.

This is what the Grand Mufti Ali of Egypt says about conversions from Islam.  Yet, he is the MOST progressive Muslim cleric around and his statement is a watershed!  Why?  Because he followed it up with this:

If the case in question is one of merely rejecting faith, then there is no worldly punishment

So, he is the first to say that there is nothing wrong – at least in the worldly sense – for a Muslim to convert to another religion.  To understand the significance of this pronouncement, please read this story of this girl in Malaysia – which is probably one of the most progressive Islamic countries in the world!

The hypocrisy of the Islamic clerics and religious strictures in this sense is amazing.  Here is a sura – verse from Quran which makes this discussion on conversion from Islam so strikingly hypocritical (more here)

9:29 Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.

So, essentially it motivates the believers to fight those who do not believe in Allah and the "Religion of Truth" or the Last Day.  And it is not allowed to get out of that religion even if one does want to.  So it is a one way street.

I know a lot of Muslims are peaceloving and get offended if one criticizes their religion (and often start pronouncing stuff from other religion which is not so evolved – as if that washes away the nonsense in Islam.. and one that is followed with great rigor by many die-hard believers!).. but there are some major issues in Islam – like this one – that do make others mad … and rightly so, I may add!

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