Morocco’s High Religious Committee decreed earlier this year that individuals who leave Islam should not face the death penalty for apostasy.
This astounding ruling from a body charged with issuing fatwas (an authoritative religious or juridical ruling), reverses the classical shari’a legislation that has stood since medieval times.
Change of heart
It is all the more significant, given that the same High Religious Committee issued a book just five years ago containing fatwas which affirmed the classical shari’a position that a Muslim who changes his or her religion should be punished by death.
