Muhsin Hendricks (born June 1967)[1] is a South African imam and Islamic scholar. He founded The Inner Circle, an organisation that supports LGBT Muslims. Hendricks has been an advocate for greater acceptance of LGBT individuals within Islam. He has been described as the world's first openly gay imam, having come out in 1996.[2]

Early and personal life

Hendricks was brought up in a traditional Muslim home,[3] and his grandfather was an Islamic cleric.[1] He studied at the University of Islamic Studies in Pakistan.[4]

He married a woman in 1991, and had children with her before the two divorced in 1996.[1] He subsequently lived in a barn for three months, fasting and meditating on his faith.[1] Hendricks came out later that year, at the age of 29.[2] At the time, he was serving as an imam, imparting teachings in mosques and at the nearby madrasa,[4] and he was fired because of his sexual orientation.[5]

As of 2017, Hendricks was in a relationship with a Hindu man, whom he had been with for 11 years.[1]

Activism

In 1996, Fullerton founded the Inner Circle, a support network aiding (but not exclusively for[6]) gay Muslims in coming to terms with their sexual orientation and how this may impact their religious faith.[4][7] He states that, in his interpretation (and in opposition to mainstream Islam), there is nothing in the Quran that condemns homosexuality;[2] Hendricks interprets the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as condemning rape, rather than homosexuality.[5]

Since 1998, Hendricks has provided "a queer safe space for prayers, counselling and Muslim marriage ceremonies", which led to South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council condemning Hendricks in 2007, later issuing a fatwa against gay people.[2]

In 2011, he founded Masjidul Ghurbaah in South Africa, a mosque belonging to the Al-Ghurbaah Foundation, as a place for gay Muslims to pray.[2][8] 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".[7][9]

Hendricks appeared in the 2007 documentary film, A Jihad for Love.[5] In 2022, Hendricks was the subject of The Radical, a German documentary film.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sengar, Shweta (2017-05-29). "A Gay Imam With Hindu Partner Runs An LGBT-Friendly Mosque In South Africa. This Is His Story". IndiaTimes. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Fullerton, Jamie (19 October 2022). "'I'm hoping there will be more queer imams'". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ Boh, Elvis (2016-10-31). "South Africa's openly gay Imam comfortable with role". Africanews. AFP.
  4. 1 2 3 Eveleigh, Robin (18 January 2023). "Meet the gay imam changing attitudes from within". Positive News.
  5. 1 2 3 Spence, Rebecca (11 September 2008). "Trembling Before Allah". The Forward. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  6. ↑ Sanderson, Sertan (31 October 2016). "Gay imam starts quiet revolution in Islam". DW. AFP.
  7. 1 2 "A gay mosque in Cape Town sounds the call to prayer for everyone". Quartz. 2 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Harrisberg, Kim (18 December 2020). "Keep on talking: gay imam engages Africans in pandemic". Openly News. Thomson Reuters Foundation.
  9. ↑ "Cape Town's gay mosque provides rare haven". News24. 31 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "The Radical". Human Rights Film Festival Berlin. 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

Further reading

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