Mohamed Hegazy, a Christian convert demanding that his religious affiliation be changed on his national identity card, succeeded last week in scheduling a hearing for 27 April. The decision comes after three years of courts dismissing his case.
“This is a good step. We have presented all our documents and I think next time he might be granted approval,” said Ashraf Edward, a lawyer for the convert.
Hegazy, 27, who changed his name to Bishoy Armia Boules, converted to Christianity when he was 16 years old. He is the first Egyptian to announce his conversion from Islam to Christianity. Hegazy filed a lawsuit in 2007 requesting a change on his national ID card and other official documents.
Hegazy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that after his conversion he began a "journey of suffering, leading a double life as I could not talk about my conversion. I acted as a Muslim."
He married Zeinab, who had also converted to Christianity, and they married twice, once as Muslims and another time within the Coptic church. They have one daughter. “I tell my child she is Coptic at home and at church but Muslim at school and at the country club,” said Hegazy.
Hegazy says he announced his true beliefs to rid himself and his family of the suffering of leading a double life. But he says that since the court proceedings began he has received death threats and he and his family are currently in hiding.
When Hegazy’s request to legally change his religion came before a Cairo court, the judge ruled that a Muslim cannot legally change his religious status because according to Islamic law, Islam is the "final and most complete religion and therefore Muslims already practice full freedom of religion and cannot convert to an older belief system," like Christianity or Judaism.
The judge based his decision on Article II of the Egyptian constitution, which makes Islamic law the source of Egyptian law.
Hegazy raised a new lawsuit in May 2009. His lawyer presented a certificate from the Egyptian Orthodox Coptic Church confirming his defendant’s Coptic belief.
Some Islamic jurists believe that Muslims who forsake their religion should be punished by death. However, Al-Azhar University scholar Abdel Mouti Bayoumi has described Islam as a "religion of freedom," saying that "whoever wants to believe in Islam can believe, and vise versa.”
However Bayoumi qualified this statement by saying that a Muslim who converts to another religion should keep the information private. If he makes his decision public, such as by taking the issue to court, he will be subject to Islamic rules regarding apostasy.
