Christians in Morocco fear fatwa’s harsher treatment

Christians in Morocco fear fatwa’s harsher treatment

RABAT, Morocco — A Moroccan fatwa (legal judgment) calling for the execution of those who leave Islam has left many Christian converts in turmoil.

There is still much debate over how the fatwa, which only recently came to light after the government’s top authority on Islam issued it last year, could change laws in Morocco. But a Moroccan Christian convert active in the house church movement said many former Muslims who are now Christians fear for their lives.

“The fatwa showed us that our country is still living in the old centuries — no freedom, no democracy,” he said. “Unfortunately, we feel that we aren’t protected. We can be arrested or now even killed any time and everywhere.”

In a publication explaining its ruling, the high council said it based its decision in part on verses from the Koran, and in part on verses from the Hadith — one that quotes Muhammad, Islam’s prophet, as saying, “If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.” Islamic scholars use the Hadith, also known as the “Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet,” along with the Koran as a basis for determining sharia (Islamic law).