KEY POINTS:
In most Muslim countries and communities around the world, deserting Islam for another religion is considered one of the greatest sins.
It was unprecedented then that last month the Mufti of Cairo, Egypt's second-highest Islamic authority, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, wrote in an article on the Washington Post and Newsweek's joint website that it was permissible for an individual to convert from Islam.
Under the sub-heading "Freedom of Religion in Islam", the mufti wrote: "The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can, because the Koran says, 'Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion,' [Koran, 109:6], and, 'Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve,' [Koran, 18:29], and, 'There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is distinct from error' [Koran, 2:256]."
The article sparked a torrent of criticism toward the mufti, as well as claims from his office that the article was misinterpreted.
"Gomaa [has] confirmed that leaving Islam is a type of deviation from the general system [society] and deserves punishment," read a statement issued by his office, Dar al-Iftaa.
Yet the article is explicit. Sheikh Ali Gomaa does go on to affirm that conversion is a "sin punishable by God on the day of judgment", and points out that conversions "undermining the foundations of the society" are punishable under Sharia, or Islamic law.
But the implications of his interpretation of the Koran and Sharia are clear. Under certain circumstances, Muslims may convert to another religion.
"The mufti wrote this in a Western context," said his spokesman, Sheikh Ibrahim Negm. "If a Westerner, who has converted to Islam, for example, does not find satisfaction in Islam, then he is legally permitted to convert back, though he is committing a major religious sin.
"Religion is a personal matter. People everywhere, including Egypt, are converting from one religion to another all the time, and that is their business."
The controversy coincides with a landmark court case in Egypt, in which 45 Coptic Christians, who had converted to Islam, were allowed to convert back to Christianity. Whether these developments mark the beginning of a shift in the country's attitude is too early to say.
Shia Islam and all four schools of Sunni Islam agree that the punishment for apostasy is death, though in the case of women, the Shias and Hanafis prescribe imprisonment until the individual reverts to Islam.
"Anyone who [converts] should be punished by death," said Sheikh Khaled Abdullah, of the Scientific Centre for Koran and Sunnah Research. "I don't care what the mufti said about this matter, I only care about the actions of Rasool [Messenger] Muhammad and his companions: [They] would kill anyone that converted."
Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, said that religion was a personal matter, and that the mufti was right to highlight that. "[One's religion] is something not related to other people or the state," he said, though he added that conversion was still "socially and religiously unacceptable".
