Couple Ordered to Separate Leaves Egypt

A Cairo University professor and his wife, targeted by Muslim extremists for his writings, have temporarily left the country following a court ruling that the couple must separate because his ideas constitute a rejection of Islam, it was disclosed Sunday.

The ruling, in a civil lawsuit brought by Islamic lawyers, has been denounced by writers, intellectuals and human rights advocates as an attack on freedom of thought and a threat to the life of the professor, Nasr abu Zeid.

The unprecedented decision by a three-judge appeals court last week held that Abu Zeid’s academic writings amounted to apostasy--a renunciation of the faith--and therefore he could no longer be married to a Muslim woman.

While the court did not hand down a death sentence, apostasy is considered a serious breach. In 1992, a Muslim cleric declared well-known secular author Farag Fouda an apostate. Two weeks later, Fouda was shot to death by militants.

Abu Zeid said he is a devout Muslim whose linguistic analyses of the Koran have been misinterpreted. His wife, Ibtihal Younis, has vowed to stay with him. “We will be together no matter what,” she said after the ruling.

The couple has left on what was described as a vacation out of the country, but in an interview with the liberal weekly Rose el Youssef published over the weekend, the two said they will return to Egypt, appeal the court judgment and not bow to religious extremism.

“I will continue to fight to defend Islam armed with my scientific awareness . . . even if my blood will be the price,” he said.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights described the ruling as a threat to “freedom of opinion and ideas, the right to disagree and the right to scientific research” and warned it “could open the door to the killing of thinkers and writers because of their . . . opinions.”

Although Egypt is a secular state, the courts may enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in cases involving marriage among Muslims. The lawyers who brought the lawsuit argued that Abu Zeid had questioned the divine origins of the Koran and thus had rejected his faith. Sharia does not permit marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man.

The appeals court accepted the argument, reversing a lower court ruling that the lawyers had no standing to bring the lawsuit.

Legal experts said the decision would probably not be enforced pending an appeal. The Interior Ministry, which would be in charge of enforcing the ruling, has declined comment.

In an interview Sunday, Sheik Yusuf Badry, a cleric whose interpretations of Abu Zeid’s writings led to the lawsuit, said he does not believe that the professor’s life is in danger. But he added that, if Abu Zeid does not repent, “the law should be carried out.”

Badry has been quoted as saying Abu Zeid should be executed, but on Sunday he was careful not to call directly for the professor’s death. He acknowledged, however, that the death penalty has been used against apostates.

“They should imprison him, not let him free. This is the same as high treason,” said Badry, who served in the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s Parliament, for five years and also was imam of a New Jersey mosque.

He said Abu Zeid’s transgressions included suggesting that the Koran could be given “new meaning suitable for our age” rather than accepted as the literal word of God.