Muhsin Hendricks
{{Short description|South African gay imam (1967–2025)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Imam
| name = Muhsin Hendricks
| image = Muhsin Hendricks.jpg
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date text|June 1967}}
| birth_place = Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|02|15|1967|06|df=yes}}
| death_place = Bethelsdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| death_cause = Murder by gunshot
| education = Bachelor's degree in Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences{{Cite news |last=Wanyonyi |first=Lola |date=8 August 2021 |title=Gay Imam in South Africa is happily married |url=https://orato.world/2021/08/08/gay-imam-in-south-africa-is-happily-married/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250222132336/https://orato.world/2021/08/08/gay-imam-in-south-africa-is-happily-married/ |archive-date=22 February 2025 |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=Orato}}
| alma_mater = {{ill|University of Islamic Studies|ur|جامعہ الدراسات اسلامیہ}}, Karachi, Pakistan
| occupation = Imam
| spouse =
| children = 3
| module = {{Infobox clergy |child=yes
| religion = Islam
| ordained =
}}
}}
Muhsin Hendricks (June 1967 – 15 February 2025) was a South African imam, Islamic scholar and LGBTQ activist. He was involved in various LGBTQ Muslim advocacy groups and was an advocate for greater acceptance of LGBTQ people within Islam. He has been described as the world's first openly gay imam, having come out in 1996. Hendricks died from gunfire wounds in an attack on February 2025 in Bethelsdorp, South Africa.{{Cite news |date=16 February 2025 |title=Muhsin Hendricks, world's 'first openly gay imam', shot dead in South Africa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/16/muhsin-hendricks-worlds-first-openly-gay-imam-shot-dead-in-south-africa |access-date=16 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} In an obituary, The Economist wrote that Hendricks "fought homophobia with the Koran", and that his ministry provided "meeting places, a mosque, constant reassurance and two human-rights foundations to defend Muslims torn between their faith and their sexuality".{{Cite news |title=Muhsin Hendricks fought homophobia with the Koran |url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/02/27/muhsin-hendricks-fought-homophobia-with-the-koran |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250227160349/https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/02/27/muhsin-hendricks-fought-homophobia-with-the-koran |archive-date=2025-02-27 |access-date=2025-03-01 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}
Early and personal life
Hendricks was born in Cape Town in June 1967{{Cite web |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/voices/article/meet-the-gay-imam-who-started-south-africas-first-lgbtiq-friendly-mosque/ded4h91m4 |title=Meet the gay imam who started South Africa's first LGBTIQ friendly mosque |website=SBS Voices |access-date=17 February 2025}}{{Cite web |last=Sengar |first=Shweta |date=29 May 2017 |title=A Gay Imam With Hindu Partner Runs An LGBT-Friendly Mosque In South Africa. This Is His Story |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/a-gay-imam-with-hindu-partner-runs-an-lgbt-friendly-mosque-in-south-africa-this-is-his-story-322685.html |access-date=17 December 2023 |website=IndiaTimes |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125175330/https://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/a-gay-imam-with-hindu-partner-runs-an-lgbt-friendly-mosque-in-south-africa-this-is-his-story-322685.html |archive-date=25 January 2024}} and brought up in a traditional Muslim home.{{cite news |last1=Boh |first1=Elvis |title=South Africa's openly gay Imam comfortable with role |url=https://www.africanews.com/2016/10/31/south-africa-s-openly-gay-imam-comfortable-with-role/ |work=Africanews |agency=AFP |date=31 October 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125175637/https://www.africanews.com/2016/10/31/south-africa-s-openly-gay-imam-comfortable-with-role/ |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}} His grandfather was an Islamic cleric. He studied at the {{ill|University of Islamic Studies|ur|جامعہ الدراسات اسلامیہ}} in Karachi, Pakistan.{{cite news |last1=Eveleigh |first1=Robin |date=18 January 2023 |title=Meet the gay imam changing attitudes from within |work=Positive News |url=https://www.positive.news/society/meet-the-gay-imam-changing-attitudes-from-within/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125175854/https://www.positive.news/society/meet-the-gay-imam-changing-attitudes-from-within/ |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}} He stated that his "forefathers are a mixture of Indonesian and Indian background. They were brought to Cape Town as political prisoners and slaves by the Dutch colonialists".{{cite web |title=Q&A: Imam Muhsin Hendricks |url=https://www.islamiaqueeristi.fi/qa-imam-muhsin-hendricks/ |website=Islamia Queeristi |access-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125174945/https://www.islamiaqueeristi.fi/qa-imam-muhsin-hendricks/ |archive-date=25 January 2024 |language=fi |date=21 August 2020}}
He married a woman in 1991, and had children with her before they divorced in 1996: later that year he came out as gay.{{cite news |last1=Fullerton |first1=Jamie |date=19 October 2022 |title='I'm hoping there will be more queer imams' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/oct/19/im-hoping-there-will-be-more-queer-imams |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125175540/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/oct/19/im-hoping-there-will-be-more-queer-imams |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}} He subsequently lived in a barn for three months, fasting for around 80 days and meditating on his faith in the form of istikhaara. Hendricks came out later that year, at the age of 29. At the time, he was serving as an imam, imparting teachings in mosques and at the nearby madrasa, and he was fired because of his sexual orientation. Although his father was supportive, his mother was shocked.{{Cite web |url=https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/south-african-imam-says-islam-does-not-oppose-different-sexual-orientations |title="One cannot shed one's sexual identity" | D+C - Development + Cooperation |date=13 October 2014 |access-date=16 February 2025 |archive-date=9 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809183124/https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/south-african-imam-says-islam-does-not-oppose-different-sexual-orientations |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Spence |first1=Rebecca |title=Trembling Before Allah |url=https://forward.com/culture/14174/trembling-before-allah-02496/ |work=The Forward |date=11 September 2008 |access-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125175951/https://forward.com/culture/14174/trembling-before-allah-02496/ |archive-date=25 January 2024}} He and his mother reconciled after she spent ten days living with Hendricks and his partner, and the two maintained a close relationship until her death.
He married a Hindu man in 2006.
Activism
In 1996, Hendricks founded the Inner Circle, a support network aiding (but not exclusively for{{cite news |last1=Sanderson |first1=Sertan |date=31 October 2016 |title=Gay imam starts quiet revolution in Islam |work=DW |agency=AFP |url=https://www.dw.com/en/a-gay-imams-quiet-revolutionary-islam-in-south-africa/a-36216175 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125180033/https://www.dw.com/en/a-gay-imams-quiet-revolutionary-islam-in-south-africa/a-36216175 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}}) gay Muslims in coming to terms with their sexual orientation and how this may impact their religious faith.{{cite news |last=Chutel |first=Lynsey |date=2 November 2016 |title=A gay mosque in Cape Town sounds the call to prayer for everyone |url=https://qz.com/africa/824711/a-gay-mosque-in-cape-town-sounds-the-call-to-pray-for-everyone |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125180248/https://qz.com/emails/quartz-obsession/1849446383/mushroom-leather-how-fungi-became-fashionable |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=Quartz}} They were founded in response to LGBTQ Muslims who felt excluded from mainstream mosques during Friday prayers.{{cite journal |last1=Hendricks |first1=Imam Muhsin |last2=Krondorfer |first2=Björn |title=Diversity of sexuality in Islam: Interview with Imam Muhsin Hendricks |journal=CrossCurrents |date=2011 |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=496–501 |jstor=24461906 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24461906 |issn=0011-1953 |archive-date=17 December 2023 |access-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217212428/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24461906 |url-status=live }} From 1998 onwards, Hendricks provided prayers, counselling and Muslim same-sex marriage ceremonies. Inner Circle was later known as Al-Fitrah Foundation.{{cite news |last1=Lazareva |first1=Inna |title='Space to coexist': Inside South Africa's LGBT-friendly mosque |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1PU0J8/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=Reuters |date=5 February 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125174620/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1PU0J8/ |archive-date=25 January 2024}}
His stated interpretation, in opposition to mainstream Islam, was that there is nothing in the Quran that condemns homosexuality.{{cite journal |last1=Hendricks |first1=Muhsin |title=Islamic texts: A source for acceptance of queer individuals into mainstream Muslim society. |journal=The Equal Rights Review |publisher=Equal Rights Trust |date=2010 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=31–51 |url=https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/muhsin.pdf |archive-date=18 January 2024 |access-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118223911/https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/muhsin.pdf |url-status=live }} He interpreted the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as condemning rape, rather than homosexuality. This is in opposition to mainstream Muslim views, which use the story to condemn same-sex behaviour.{{cite journal |last1=Bonthuys |first1=Elsje |last2=Erlank |first2=Natasha |title=Modes of (in)tolerance: South African Muslims and same-sex relationships |journal=Culture, Health & Sexuality |date=2012 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=269–282 |doi=10.1080/13691058.2011.621450 |pmid=22081952 |s2cid=26656828 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22081952/ |issn=1464-5351 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125172351/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22081952/ |url-status=live }} The Muslim Judicial Council condemned Hendricks in 2007, later issuing a fatwa against gay people. This position, which is backed up by most of South Africa's mainstream Muslim organisations, has been criticised for not recognising gender and sexual diversity in pre-colonial Muslim societies. In addition to this, in the African context, there has often been pushback to LGBTQ rights from conservative groups of all faiths, who view homosexuality as un-African.{{cite journal |last1=Osman |first1=Mujahid |title=Queering Jihad in South Africa: Islam, Queerness, and Liberative Praxis |journal=Religions |date=September 2023 |volume=14 |issue=9 |pages=1081 |doi=10.3390/rel14091081 |doi-access=free |language=en |issn=2077-1444}}
In 2011, he founded Masjidul Ghurbaah in South Africa, a mosque belonging to the Al-Ghurbaah Foundation.{{cite news |last1=Harrisberg |first1=Kim |title=Keep on talking: gay imam engages Africans in pandemic |url=https://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=72a1f421-d10e-4a94-a9c1-7f4bd64ae621 |work=Openly News |agency=Thomson Reuters Foundation |date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125181518/https://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=72a1f421-d10e-4a94-a9c1-7f4bd64ae621 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}} Of this endeavour, Hendricks said: "There is this love-hate relationship from the Muslim community. Sometimes they feel that I should be thrown from the highest mountain, and sometimes they appreciate that there is one imam who is willing to work with people who they are unwilling to work with".{{cite news |title=Cape Town's gay mosque provides rare haven |url=https://www.news24.com/News24/cape-towns-gay-mosque-provides-rare-haven-20161031-62 |work=News24 |date=31 October 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125180427/https://www.news24.com/News24/cape-towns-gay-mosque-provides-rare-haven-20161031-62 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 January 2024}} Al-Fitrah Foundation later founded the Masjid Ul-Umam.
In 2019, Hendricks travelled to Kenya to advocate for LGBTQ rights. By 2022, he developed multifaith training courses for the Global Interfaith Network.
In 2022, Hendricks raised concerns about the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC)'s "Short Fatwa," which he believed could have detrimental effects on the gay community. Hendricks challenged the MJC's decision, expressing worries about the potential harm it could cause to LGBTQ individuals.{{Cite web |last=Bester |first=Junior |title='Fatwa on homosexuals harmful,' says openly gay imam |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/fatwa-on-homosexuals-harmful-says-openly-gay-imam-70a28e30-975b-4f99-92d7-b9c5dd8c65b5 |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=www.iol.co.za |language=en}}
= Internet and film activism =
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hendricks began posting TikToks with positive messages about love. By 2022, he was creating online videos about LGBTQ Muslims in Hindi and Urdu.
Hendricks appeared in the 2007 documentary film A Jihad for Love. In 2022, he was the subject of The Radical, a German documentary film.{{cite news |title=The Radical |url=https://www.humanrightsfilmfestivalberlin.de/en/radical |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=Human Rights Film Festival Berlin |date=2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240125180504/https://www.humanrightsfilmfestivalberlin.de/en/radical |archive-date=25 January 2024}}
Death and responses
Hendricks died at the age of 57 years old, after he was fatally shot on 15 February 2025 in Bethelsdorp, Eastern Cape. While Hendricks was travelling in the back seat of a car, a Toyota Hilux stopped in front of the car{{Snd}}blocking the road{{Snd}}before two masked gunmen opened fire. Security camera footage shows the assailants fleeing the scene.{{Cite web |date=15 February 2025 |title=Openly Gay South African Imam Shot Dead |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/openly-gay-south-african-imam-shot-dead-08bb068c |access-date=17 February 2025 |website=Barron's |agency=Agence France Presse}}{{Cite web |date=15 February 2025 |title=ILGA World mourns Muhsin Hendricks, activist and first openly gay Imam |url=https://ilga.org/news/ilga-world-mourns-muhsin-hendricks-imam-killed/ |access-date=16 February 2025 |website=ILGA World}} {{As of|2025|February|16|alt=As of 16 February}}, the police were still investigating a motive for the killing.
Initial reports claimed that he was murdered after reportedly officiating a lesbian wedding in Gqeberha.{{Cite web |date=16 February 2025 |title=Muhsin Hendricks: World's 'first openly gay imam' shot dead in South Africa |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c05l33j7rq7o |access-date=16 February 2025 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}} The Al-Ghurbaah Foundation, founded by Hendricks, disputed this and said that he had instead officiated the weddings of "two interfaith heterosexual couples" in Gqeberha.{{Cite news |last=Ngcobo |first=Khanyisile |date=18 February 2025 |title=Even in his final seconds of life, first gay imam pushed boundaries |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3nlv5d52o |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=BBC News}}
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) criticised Hendricks's killing and called on authorities to investigate the death. The Cape Town Ulama Board (CTUB){{Cite web |date=2025-02-16 |title=Muhsin Hendricks Gunned Down - Cape Town Ulama Board |url=https://ulamaboard.org.za/2025/02/16/muhsin-hendricks-gunned-down/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2025-02-16 |title=Muslim leadership speaks out on the murder of Muhsin Hendricks - Muslim Views |url=https://muslimviews.co.za/muslim-leadership-speaks-out-on-the-murder-of-muhsin-hendricks/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |language=en-ZA}} and United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) condemned the murder of Hendricks, while expressing their disapproval of his views. They emphasised the Islamic condemnation of violence and the importance of adhering to the rule of law, and stated that violence as a response to disagreements is unacceptable. They urged against speculation about the motive behind the murder and condemned any acts of violence against the LGBTQ community.{{Cite web |last=Ellis |first=Estelle |date=2025-02-16 |title=Tributes pour in for Muhsin Hendricks, openly gay imam shot dead |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-16-tributes-pour-in-for-muhsin-hendricks-openly-gay-imam-shot-dead/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}
== See also ==
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name| 2900618}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendricks, Muhsin}}
Category:2025 murders in South Africa
Category:20th-century South African LGBTQ people
Category:20th-century South African people
Category:21st-century South African LGBTQ people
Category:21st-century South African people
Category:Deaths by firearm in South Africa
Category:South African gay men
Category:South African LGBTQ rights activists