Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - The Freedom and Justice party, linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, has appointed its Vice-President, the Coptic Rafiq Habib. Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, an intellectual close to the Muslim Brotherhood, who did not join the Freedom and Justice party and presents himself as an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election, stressed the right to freedom of conscience and condemned the forced conversions. "No one should interfere if a Christian decides to convert to Islam or if a Muslim decides to leave Islam and become a Christian," said Aboul Fotouh during an interview with a satellite television network. "Forcing people to adopt a particular faith leads to the growth of 'hypocrisy' he added. Aboul Fotouh also said that death penalty for those who deny the Islamic faith should be contextualized in the early years of Islam, and was determined not by conversion, but by the fact that these people were fighting Islam with their weapons. Fr. Luciano Verdoscia, a Comboni missionary and scholar of Islam, who has been working in Cairo for years, comments to Fides: "With revolution not only fundamentalist forces have emerged and carry out violent acts (perhaps inspired by elements of the old regime), but the question of an important part of the population for a government as secular as possible is especially highlighted, " said Fr Luciano. "Now, within the party of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is perceived as a party with strong ideological religious points of view, there are intellectuals who are able to critically review the past of Islam, it is something to be taken into account," continues the missionary.
" Bear in mind, however, that one moves on a political level, so if you want to get the votes of electors outside your area of ideological reference, one should present himself as a moderate force. Therefore we must see if we are dealing with a strategy to come to power and then impose an Islamist vision of society, " warns the missionary. "But I hope that even in Islam a debate opens which leads to revise some positions especially with regard to fundamental human rights, starting with the freedom of conscience," concludes Father Verdoscia. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 17/05/2011)
