Article (3):

Introduction to Article (3):

1- According to the piece of news written in the Egyptian independent opposition newspaper ''Al-Masry Al-Yom'' on 29^th of November, 2012, the Egyptian State Security Court sentenced seven defendants to receive the capital punishment, in absentia, within the case concerning the movie made by them with the intention to insult Prophet Muhammad. The names of those seven persons sentenced to death in absentia are as follows: Morris Sadek, Morcos Aziz Khalil, Esmat Zaqalama, Nabeel Adeeb Bisada Moussa, Elia Basseley, Nahed Mahmoud Metwalli, and Nader Fareed Fawzy Nicola. To these names, the name of the American anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones was added. This court sentence was issued by the head-judge of the court, Seif-Al-Nasr Suleiman, along with two judges named M. Amer Gadou and Hassan Ismail Hassan, in the presence of Khaled Diaa, the head of the Higher Egyptian State Security Police, and its secretary Adel Abdel-Hameed. According to the newspaper, once the court sentence was pronounced, lawyers and those present hailed and shouted in joy religious slogans such as ''Allahu Akbar!'' and ''Alhamdulillah!'' (i.e., ''God is the Greatest'' and ''Praised be the Lord'', respectively). This scandal is unprecedented in the history of Egyptian courts; namely, the defense lawyers allied themselves with the police against the absent defendants. Moreover, it is unprecedented in the history of Egyptian courts to sentence defendants to death in absentia in accordance to the law concerning the so-called ''contempt of religion''. This is a bad, corrupt law that violates human rights, but its stipulated punishment is imprisonment for one up to five years, and NOT the capital punishment at all, as per the current Egyptian law system.

2- The Egyptian authorities have revoked the Egyptian citizenship of the lawyer Morris Sadek, who lives in the USA. Despite the wide intellectual difference between us and Morris Sadek, we have published here a statement in the name of IQC denouncing such an unjust measure and the unjust court sentence that sentenced to death in absentia those who have insulted Prophet Muhammad in a movie. We maintain here that such sentence is indeed insulting to Islam and it contradicts God's Quranic sharia. We have demanded that the Grand Mufti of Egypt should not participate in such crime by endorsing the court sentence, or else, he would be a veritable enemy of God and His messenger. We have demanded in our statement that judges who issued such sentence must get the sack because they have tarnished the reputation of Egypt and the image of Egyptian judicial system. We have explained how this unjust sentence asserts the deep infiltration of extremist Sunnite Ibn Hanbal doctrine-based Wahabism in the mentality of Egyptians. Hence, to achieve political victory over Wahabi terrorists (i.e., Salafists and the MB members) by forcing them out of power is not enough; what is more dangerous is the infiltration of Wahabism, disguised as ''Islam'', within Egyptian Muslims. It is of vital importance to prove using the Quranic verses how Wahabis disbelieve in the Quran and contradict it. this is intellectual war of ideas is being done so far exclusively by Quranists, without any support or aid from victims of Wahabism worldwide.

3- We have published articles as a response, asserting that this court sentence is against true Sunna/traditions/laws of Muhammad (i.e., the Quran alone), and that absolute religious freedom is the very first principle of the Quranic sharia and faith tenets. In the following article, we tackle practical application of absolute religious freedom in real life now, proving that this court sentence is actually the application of Sunnite Wahabi sharia, and NOT Islam as per the Quran. Judges who issued such a sentence are not MB or Salafists, but they are imbued with Wahabism, disguised as 'Islam', via education, media, and mosques. This is eh veritable source of danger in Egypt; this threat must be faced intellectually within war of ideas by abolishing all laws that restrict freedom of thought, speech, and expression and threaten free thinkers by jail if they refuted holy of holies: the Wahabi ideology. Hence, absolute religious freedom as a Quranic principle must be applied in all fields: intellectual endeavors, proselytization, research studies, rituals, free expression, etc. and not just within tenets and beliefs. This theme is further explained in the article below.     

Article (3): This Insulting Court Sentence Contradicts Religious Freedom, the Salient Principle of the Real Islamic Quranic Sharia:

Firstly: the principle of absolute freedom in the field of religious proselytization:

1- A given country or state is not to interfere at all within the field of peaceful religious call or proselytization; its sole mission is to assert freedom of proselytization for all citizens on equal footing regardless of the faiths being proselytized. Hence, all laws restricting such freedoms in Egypt, an in the Arab world, such as the so-called law against 'contempt of religion' must be abolished; it is used solely to protect Sunnite Wahabism against being discussed and put to question, whereas in Egypt, no one is punished for criticizing, mocking, writing, or speaking disparagingly about Coptic Orthodox Christianity, Shiite religion, or Baha'ism. In fact, the real act of doing contemptuous deeds to real Islam (i.e. the Quran alone) is to maintain and apply this corrupt, bad law of ill-reputation, especially when many Quranists have been persecuted in Egypt and some were imprisoned in 2001. Hence, all free Egyptians must stand firmly against the proposed MB constitution forced to pass off as Egypt's new constitution; this corrupt MB-flavored text tackles notions like never to discuss prophets of God and makes Sunnite Wahabi sharia as the only source of legislation in Egypt, as per Article No. 220: (The principles of the Islamic sharia include approved comprehensive proofs, fundamental rules of jurisprudence ''fiqh'', and authoritative  sources approved by the Sunnite doctrines…).        

2- In everyday real-life, the freedom of peaceful proselytization for all citizens in a given country means that Christians of any denominations should be free to proselytize their religion among 'Muslims', Muslims should be free to proselytize their religion among non-Muslims, Sunnite Wahabis should be free to proselytize their religion among non-Sunnites, Shiites should be free to proselytize their religion among Sunnites and all non-Shiites, Sufis should be free to proselytize their religion among Sunnites and all non-Sufis, Baha'is should be free to proselytize their religion among non-Baha'is, and so on and so forth for the rest of world religions. This same freedom must be provided to those proselytizing atheism among believers as well.   

3- This freedom of peaceful proselytization has nothing to do with coercion and compulsion in religion; it is calling others to accept a certain faith and NOT forcing them to accept it. If callers/preachers or proselytizers used force or compulsion, they must be legally punished, as this is a violation of right of others as far as religious freedom is concerned. 

4- freedom to proselytize one's religion implicitly includes the right to refute other religions and proving them wrong; there is nothing negative in this, as all proselytizers naturally assume that their creed is right and true while other creeds are false and wrong. Even the testimony of Islam, (There is no God but Allah), begins by refuting the existence of other deities to assert the divinity of Allah alone. "There shall be no compulsion in religion; the right way has become distinct from the wrong way. Whoever renounces evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break. God is Hearing and Knowing." (2:256). In this verse, naturally, we find the negation of other religions and creeds apart from Islam (i.e., Quranism) and that other religions are false and deceitful and those who adhere to them are errant and misguided. This is asserted in the following verses: "Religion with God is Islam…" (3:19). "Whoever seeks other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers." (3:85). This means that non-believers in Quranism will reside eternally in Hell. Quranists have the right to preach this in their proselytization, without other non-Quranists deemed as feeling offended at all. Likewise, Quranists have the right to preach that those who deify and worship Muhammad, Jesus, disciples, companions, imams, clergymen, imams, etc. as disbelievers in God and as polytheists. Quranists have the right to say the same regarding those who worship the Satanic/devilish mausoleum ascribed to Muhammad in Yathreb; Quranists can support their views with as many proofs as possible from the Quran and other lines of evidence, but without coercing or forcing others to follow Quranism. Likewise, non-Quranists and rejecters of the Quran have the right to disbelieve in the Quran and to describe it along with Muhammad by any means and words they like, whether they have proofs or not. In the same vein, Baha'is can refute or debunk the other religions of non-Baha'is, whether they have proofs or not. Christians can refute or debunk the other religions of non-Christians who reject Christ as god/savior, whether they have proofs or not. Similarly, atheists can refute or debunk all religions of all believers, whether they have proofs or not, and so on and so forth. In a nutshell, everyone can refute or debunk other religions using or without using (true or false) lines of evidence of any sorts, and no one had the right to get offended by this; all human beings will be judged in the Last Day, and the Lord will judge and settle our differences. Of course, freedom of proselytization exclude compulsion in religion of any kind and punishing renegades/apostates or infidels who reject preaching. The so-called penalty of apostasy is fabrications made by early Sunnites and Shiites, and it has nothing to do with the Quran. Such penalty for rejecting one's faith used to be exacted by Catholic popes in Rome during the Middle Ages. In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, modern world has realized and applied unlimited freedom of proselytization of all creeds without using force and to convert into and out of any creed just as one chooses. This absolute religious freedom is advocated in the Quran, revealed 14 centuries ago.                   

5- This unlimited freedom of proselytization of all religions make people have ample field of choice with no ceiling; one can reject Islam and convert to any other religion, without being punished for it; as judgment is God's in the Last Day. There should be no restrictions about conversions at all, and one does not need a certificate to prove it, as with the case when a convert to Sunnite Wahabism need a certificate issued by the Cairo-based Al-Azhar or any other religious institution in the KSA. Islam (Quranism) has no such things as religious institutions or clergymen of any kind. No one has the right to prevent, hinder, or stop anyone else from converting to any other creed. Hence, if someone in Egypt has decided to convert to Sufism, Baha'ism, or Shiite religion, for instance, no one should stop or interfere in such conversions, and the same applies to anyone desires to join Satanics (Satanism) or to become an atheist who rejects all creeds. This is an individual responsibility and a personal choice in which no one else has the right to interfere. One is to bear responsibility for one's choice only before God in the Day of Resurrection.

6- Religious freedom in all aspects of conversions and proselytizing, and the like, helps to make people break free from submission to the meanest, most contemptible kinds of human beings: 1) odious clergymen who assume themselves as mediators between believers and God, and 2) the more abominable throng who use the name of God to reach wealth, power, and authority. Hence, this absolute religious freedom leads to establishing a raised political awareness among the masses and nations and it will clean the political arena of those who trade with religious mottoes to deceive people. Thus, political rivalry will be among those who can serve people better and respect their (religious and worldly) choices. Hence, this absolute religious freedom leads to all other types of freedoms and eliminate religious myths or mythological notions and encourage refutation and ridicule of sanctified myths of worshipping things, locations, and dead persons, made taboo previously because of no one able to discuss them out of fear of being jailed or persecuted.

7- Being foes or adversaries means that each party sticks to their views/stances in religion, with freedom to spread such views within proselytization, and then leave judgment to God in the Hereafter. Finally, one bears responsibility for one's opinions in all things, let alone religion; hence, views of preachers are ascribed to them and NOT to Islam per se (the Quran), and one is judged eventually in the Hereafter about these views of course. Hence, intellectual adversaries and foes about religious disputes have the right, in this life, to mock, deride, ridicule, refute, debunk, and contradict one another's religious views and creeds. Hence, all of us should leave the final judgment to God alone in the Hereafter. This is fairness and justice in self-expression; this is where freedom and justice go hand in hand.

8- In Quranic sharia of real Islam, there is one higher value which is positioned above the value of justice: namely, charity, as we have asserted in a previous article in this book, proving hoe this unjust court sentence contradicts real Sunna/laws applied by Muhammad: the Quran itself. We have asserted before how charity means to respond to verbal harm or abuse by pardon, patience, and forgiveness. The same higher value of charity applies to how peaceful religious freedom is practiced. Preaching God's Word must follow a certain Quranic rule: "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good advice, and debate with them in the most dignified manner…" (16:125). Applying this verse is explained in the following verses as well: "And who is better in speech than someone who calls to God, and acts with integrity, and says, "I am of those who submit"? Good and evil are not equal. Repel evil with good, and the person who was your enemy becomes like an intimate friend. But none will attain it except those who persevere, and none will attain it except the very fortunate." (41:33-35). "And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in the best manner possible, except those who do wrong among them. And say, "We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you; and our God and your God is One; and to Him we are submissive."" (29:46). As for those who commit physical or verbal injustices, God tells us to keep away from them: "And when they hear vain talk, they avoid it, and say, "We have our deeds, and you have your deeds; peace be upon you; we do not desire the ignorant."" (28:55). Hence, to move away from fanatics and the unjust among People of the Book is a divine command which is contrary to the court sentence putting them to death. As for moderates among them, one is to say to them the following: "…say, "We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you; and our God and your God is One; and to Him we are submissive."" (29:46). This means that true believers must believe in all books revealed by God to prophets and to dedicate our faith and religion to God alone.   

9- It is strange that only in the 20^th century that the West countries reach and apply values called for in the Quran 14 centuries ago regarding absolute freedom of religion, denied and opposed by Wahabis and their likes. For instance, in the USA, ''Islam'' is proselytized without any hindrance and some American former Christians convert to it, without anyone denouncing the fact, as this is personal freedom. First-hand experience tells us that even some Muhammadans easily bought churches to turn them into mosques, with help of Christian Americans. Sunnite Wahabi mosques enjoy freedom in American soil; yet, Shiites are not allowed to enter into them. On the contrary, Christians cannot proselytize their religion in the Arab countries of the Muhammadans, who see religious freedom as one-way or one-direction: to convert from any creed to ''Islam'' and not the vice-versa. Even in many Arab countries of the Muhammadans, when Christians convert to Islam and desire to return to Christianity, they are punished for it in jail or sometimes they get killed for apostasy! For more details of this, we refer readers to various articles previously written and published online and to our book titled ''Apostasy Punishment''.      

10- But, and how much this word ''but'' is imposed on the context of this article, the formal public education inside Egypt should be devoid of fanaticism and preaching Wahabism or any other creed. We assert that religious education curricula should be discarded in public schools in Egypt, to be replaced by books teaching higher values, human rights, moral values, the Egyptian constitution (when a true human-rights-friendly one would be written one day), citizenship rights, etc. Al-Azhar institution, the Cairo-based Vatican-like supreme authority of Sunnite Wahabism in the 'Muslim' world, must reform its education curricula to defend absolute religious freedom and human rights. Likewise, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt must limit its control over Coptic Christians.     

Secondly: the principle of absolute freedom in the field of performing religious rituals:

1- All restrictive laws in Egypt that hinder building of churches and other houses of worship of all denominations and creeds (even those houses of worship that contain 'holy' tombs) must be annulled in order to make the right of religious freedom regarding rituals available to all Egyptians, regardless of creed notions of any given religion. Ordinary laws should govern these houses of worship like any other buildings, public or private. 

2- There must be absolute freedom in performing rituals inside and outside houses of worship; the Egyptian State must protect performers of these rituals without discrimination for or against certain cults or worshippers. This right must be organized within laws on equal footing for all Egyptian citizens, and this must include all Christian mass and rituals and any other public celebrations outside and inside churches and this applies to all public ritual or celebration related to Sufis, Baha'is, Jews, Shiites, etc. in Egypt. Hence, the Egyptian State by applying all this will be establishing a just, law-based country that care for citizenship rights, leaving religious differences to be settled and judged by God alone in the Hereafter.  

Lastly:

1- Let us always remember that if God wills is, He would have sent angels to 'force' people to believe in Him. One can hardly imagine God making a piece of Hell in all cities to punish sinners/non-believers. This imagined notion would entail no tests in this life and would render the Last Day useless. God never created us as robots wired to believe blindly; this means that life would no longer be a test of free will and free choice for human beings. Hence, God created us free to choose in every aspect, especially in matters of faith, or even lack of it. Indeed, people practice this free choice, and all people differ in religious views and this will go on until the end of times. All of us should wait judgment of the Eternal Judge in the Hereafter in the Day of Resurrection, and as for those self-deified creatures who persecute others, we should despise them and stop their mischief and evil by all means possible.  

2- As we write this article on 5^th Dec., 2012, we have heard news that Wahabi violent armed gangsters of the terrorist MB group members and Salafists have attacked peaceful sit-ins of free Egyptians before the presidential palace, where the MB president resides. We have warned many times in our previous writings for years against the threat and danger posed by the terrorist MB and their Wahabi ideology. As usual, no one has paid attention to what we say or write. We still warn against their destructive culture that distorts Islam and deceive youths who attack anti-MB protesters in sit-ins, thinking they beat up ''enemies'' of Islam! In fact, all MB members deserve our despise and contempt; they have showed their true colors once they reached power in Egypt, as gullible citizens elected them, thinking they may apply 'Islam' in Egypt. Most Egyptians now have realized how deceitful and evil the MB members are, and they will remove the MB rule soon enough just as they did with the terrorist Mubarak regime. We assert here again that Egypt will get rid of the terrorist MB rule, but if Egyptians ever achieved political victory over terrorist MB and Salafists and would not follow this with questioning, discussing, debunking, and refuting Wahabism, the danger/threat of the religious terror will go on. Mark our words!       

3- We bear full responsibility of our view here before the Almighty: the terrorist  MB members are worst that hypocrites mentioned by God in the Quran: "Among the people are those who say, "We believe in God and in the Last Day," but they are not believers. They seek to deceive God and those who believe, but they deceive none but themselves, though they are not aware. In their hearts is sickness, and God has increased their sickness. They will have a painful punishment because of their denial. And when it is said to them, "Do not make trouble on earth," they say, "We are only reformers." In fact, they are the troublemakers, but they are not aware." (2:8-12). God says nothing but the Truth.