CAIRO: Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa has further clarified what he wrote on the Washington Post-Newsweek forum On Faith website about the Islamic viewpoint on the religious status of Muslims converting to other religions. Referring to it in Arabic as redda, he stressed the concepts of freedom and responsibility that come along with the person s choice to abide by a certain religion. The On Faith website where the controversial article was posted is a new online religion feature to provide a forum for spirited talk, drawing on a remarkable panel of distinguished religious figures as well as journalists. Members of the group will weigh in on a question posed at least once a week, perhaps sometimes more often, depending on the flow of the news. According to a second press statement issued by Dar El-Ifta to Daily News Egypt, the Grand Mufti s article stated that God has made it every person s right to choose the religion they desire to follow without any force or outside pressures. That is why I said that the redda s punishment in life has never been implemented throughout the whole history of Islam, except on those who did not find it enough to do redda but worked on destroying the societal principles and rules, said the statement. Gomaa also pointed out in his article that some local Egyptian newspapers have taken parts out of his article that only focused on the concept of freedom not responsibility, leaving the readers with the impression that leaving Islam is not a serious issue, when it is "extremely serious.
