A FATWA has been passed on the writer who penned the play portraying Jesus Christ as a homosexual, a militant Islamic leader said yesterday.

American writer Terrence McNally, who is gay and a Roman Catholic, was sentenced to death by the Shari'ah Court of the UK as his play, Corpus Christi, opened in London.

The play by the Pulitzer Prize and four-time Tony Award winner, which shows a gay Jesus betrayed by his lover Judas and crucified as ''king of the queers'', provoked fury among Christians and Church leaders when it premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Muslims regard Jesus as a Messenger of God and revere his mother, the Virgin Mary. And the play was declared blasphemy by the Al-Muhajiroun (The Defenders of the Messenger Jesus).

Supporters of the group, which claims around 800 UK members, passed out copies of the fatwa signed by Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, judge of the Shari'ah Court of the UK, outside London's Pleasance Theatre.

Police are understood to have been concerned enough about the threat to warn Mr McNally at his home in New York.

A small group of Catholics were quietly praying in protest outside the theatre when the noisy group of extremist Muslim demonstrators arrived to hand out copies of the fatwa.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad said: ''The fatwa is to express the Islamic point of view that those who are insulting to Allah and the Messengers of God, they must understand it is a crime.''

The London-based Muslim leader criticised Christian churches for not taking stronger action against the play and claimed the Christians who had been demonstrating against the play last night welcomed the fatwa.

The fatwa should only be carried out by an Islamic state - which would rule out the US or Britain for an assassination attempt. ''We would warn individual Muslims not to try to carry it out,'' the sheikh said.

However, the playwright would still face arrest and execution if he travelled to Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, the religious leader said.

''This should only happen on their own soil. We do not believe in political assassination, but obviously he would face capital punishment. He will be arrested and there will be capital punishment,'' he added.

Islamic law states that Mr McNally can escape the fatwa only by becoming a Muslim, the sheikh said.

If he simply repents, he will still be killed but his family will be cared for by the Islamic state and he may be buried in a Muslim graveyard, he added.

The Charity Commission pledged to investigate after it emerged that the copies of the fatwa handed out at the demonstration had been produced by the Muslim and Cultural Society of Enfield and Haringey, a registered charity.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who issued the fatwa, is a trustee of the charity and Anjem Choudary, chair of the trustees, is a supporter of the court.

However, Mr Choudary, a 32-year-old solicitor from east London, said that the charity had a duty to pass details of the death sentence on.

''The court is a body that is very involved with the community and gives the Islamic verdict and position on events,'' he said.

''We have made it clear to the Charity Commission before that the Muslim Cultural Society that was in touch with many different groups in the community.

''We are an educational trust and if that is the position according to Islam we can't ignore that. We will pass on that information, it is not for us to hide it.''

Mr Choudary added: ''As far as we are concerned, this falls under education and religion.''

Mr McNally's agents in New York said he would not be commenting on the threats.

The Charity Commission spokesman later added: ''The shari'ah court of the UK is not a charity.

''The use of a charity number in connection with a fatwa is clearly a cause for concern. We shall be taking the issue up urgently and seeing what action may be necessary.''