Egyptian Woman Tortured By Family For Converting To Christianity

When you think of Egypt, you think of a more progressive society than say Saudi Arabia (in spite of Hosni Mubarak), but when it comes to apostasy they are just as backwards as any less progressive Muslim society. I have never understood the whole 'death for apostasy' mentality in Islam, especially since it claims there is no compulsion in religion. No-one should be threatened with death if they change their faith. And no-one should be forced to convert to a religion through fear or coercion. And to be tortured to try and force someone to revert back to Islam is, well, barbaric and certainly not very spiritual. And yet, this is what happens to many people who leave the Muslim faith. And Egypt is no different than any other Muslim-dominated land.

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Muslims in Egypt who change their faith face persecution by the state and rejection from their families, an investigation by Release International has shown, according to the latest edition of the ministry's magazine.

One Egyptian Muslim woman who dared to convert to Christianity was kidnapped by her own family and tortured in an effort to make her renounce being a Christian. They actually ripped off her fingernails thinking that would endear her more to her old faith. Torture is not a way to get someone to revert, just as rape, for that matter, is not a way to make someone convert. I'm not sure I fully understand that whole mentality, but some women would rather kill themselves than convert after being raped. And ripping off "Mary's" fingernails did not make her leave her new faith, it actually strengthened her.

Mary, not her real name, works secretly to help women like herself - those from a Muslim background, who have chosen to change their religion. She described how some relatives tortured her to try to get her to return to Islam.

"They tortured me, pulled out my nails and burnt me but God gave me a way out," she said.

Mary became a Christian at the age of 21, after working for a Christian lawyer. She told Release: "I saw that Jesus was fair with everyone; he was gentle with the needy."

After changing her faith Mary had to leave her family and resorted to living on the streets. Christians she met were suspicious of her, fearing she may have been a spy. They refused to take her in.

"Some priests even told me to return to Islam and my family," she said.

Eventually she was helped by an Orthodox priest and met other believers from a Muslim background for the first time.

Mary began to help them. But state security were aware of what she was doing and informed her family that she had become a Christian activist. Her relatives kidnapped her and tortured her for seven days before she was able to escape.

I'm sure those priests who told her to return to Islam did so out of fear. Why should anyone live in fear, in a civilized world? And yet, Mary still does.

Mary is still followed by state security and has had to change her address five times.

Christians from a Muslim background also face other problems. "State security tell their employers they are converts and they fire them," said Mary.

"Families also marry off convert girls to Muslims, or lock them away in their houses. They even disfigure the girls' faces with acid."

For a parent to rather see their child disfigured, miserable and unhappy, rather than a different religion, is a perversion of parental love. And for the state to actually try and get someone fired for having converted is shameful. And many people have claimed that state security has actually arrested and tortured people for converting to Christianity.

It's sad that a country that dating back to 639AD, prior to Islamic imperialism taking over the region, Egypt was " a major centre for Christian scholarship." Now, even though 10% of the Egyptian population is Christian they are persecuted, discriminated against and have no political representation. Perhaps some day these countries will treat their religious minority population with some measure of dignity and respect, rather than as pariahs.