Death threats, his family’s renunciation of him, and condemnation from most of Egypt have not deterred Christian convert Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy from pursuing his historic case to seek official recognition for his conversion from Islam to Christianity.
“I know there are fatwas (religious edicts) to shed my blood, but I will not give up and I will not leave the country,” said 25-year-old Hegazy to The Associated Press from his hideout last Thursday.
Hegazy has been in hiding – often sleeping in different places each night – since Muslims threatened to kill him for leaving Islam.
The Christian convert is currently suing Egypt for rejecting his earlier application to officially change his religion on his identification papers.
His wife, Katerina, who is also a Christian convert, is four months pregnant with their son. Hegazy said that his unborn son is the inspiration for wanting to officially change his religion.
“My wife is pregnant. I want my son to be born within my own religion and for the fact that he is Christian to be written on official papers,” said Hegazy, according to Agence France-Presse.
In Egypt, a child’s registered religion is based on the father’s official faith. As a result, Hegazy has to change his religion to Christianity in order for his son to be raised openly as a Christian and be able to enroll in Christian religious classes at school, wed in a church, and attend church services openly without harassment.
Hegazy converted to Christianity nine years ago and attended church in his hometown of Port Said in northeastern Egypt.
“I started readings and comparative studies in religions,” he said to AP. “I found that I am not consistent with Islam teachings. The major issue for me was love. Islam wasn’t promoting love as Christianity did.”
