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10 Muslim World J. Hum. Rts. 1 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/muwjhr10 and id is 1 raw text is: doi 10.1515/mwjhr-2012-0007 - MWJHR 2013; 10(1): 1-26 Moataz Ahmed El Fegiery* Islamic Law and Freedom of Religion: The Case of Apostasy and Its Legal Implications in Egypt Abstract: The article analyses Egyptian jurisprudence on the issue of apostasy, with a focus on conversion from Islam to Christianity. It argues that the Egyptian judiciary has failed to develop a harmonious relationship between Islamic law and the principle of freedom of religion. It looks at how the majority of cases examined before the Egyptian judiciary reveal a continued tension between freedom of religion as defined in international human rights law and its judges' interpretation of Islamic law as a constitutive element of public order. Recently, the Supreme Administrative Court tried to break through traditional barriers regarding the right of converts of Christian origin to record their re-affiliation to Christianity in their documents of identification, and pragmatically justified this precedent in light of the requirements of modern states, whereby identity cards should reflect the correct information of each citizen. Yet it argues that the court was not conscious of freedom of religion as a fundamental individual right, and moreover, that this precedent has not been followed with respect to converts of Islamic origin. Finally, the paper argues that, for a sustainable solution to the legal tensions concerning apostasy in Egyptian courts, a new perspective is required on the relationship between Islamic law and religious freedom whereby the universal understanding of freedom of religion can be legitimized from within Islamic legal traditions. The article also proposes a set of constitutional and legal measures to enhance freedom of religion in Egypt. Keywords: apostasy, freedom of religion, Egypt *Corresponding author: Moataz Ahmed El Fegiery, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, U(, E-mail: melfegiery@hotmail.com Introduction Freedom of religion in Egypt remains among the persistent human rights con- cerns raised by UN member states during discussion on the general situation of DE GRUYTER

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