The first openly gay Muslim imam is killed in South Africa, prompting claims of an assassination

Muhsin Hendricks, considered the world's first openly gay imam, was shot dead Saturday in South Africa. (Muhsin Hendricks/Instagram)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A man regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam has been fatally shot while sitting in a car in South Africa in what many are calling an assassination because of his teachings.

Muhsin Hendricks was ambushed by two men in a pick-up truck while visiting the southern city of Gqeberha on Saturday. Police said the men involved in the killing had their faces covered. A security video of the shooting shows one of them jumping out of their vehicle, running up to the car Hendricks was in and firing a pistol multiple times through a side window. Police said Hendricks was with a driver, who survived.

Police have not established a motive for the killing, but political parties and LGBTQ+ organizations say Hendricks was targeted because he started a mosque in Cape Town for gay Muslims and called for members of the LGBTQ+ community to be welcomed into Islam. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Islamic religion.

South Africa’s Justice Ministry said it was investigating claims that Hendricks was the target of an assassination.

Hendricks was known internationally and spoke at the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s conference in South Africa last year.

The ILGA family “is in deep shock at the news of the murder of Muhsin Hendricks and calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate what we fear may be a hate crime,” said Julia Ehrt, executive director of ILGA. “He supported and mentored so many people in South Africa and around the world in their journey to reconcile with their faith.”

The ILGA said Hendricks had spoken of how some people were calling for the closing of his mosque and had branded it the “gay temple.”

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second biggest political party, said “the nature of the killing strongly suggests a professional hit.”

Hendricks said in an interview with a South African newspaper in 2022 that he felt he was the target of a series of fatwas -- rulings in Islamic law -- issued by South Africa’s Muslim Judicial Council that year. They reminded the country’s Muslims that same-sex relationships were prohibited, although the council said gay Muslims who abstain from “same-sex actions” should be welcomed at mosques.

Hendricks was the subject of a documentary film released the same year called “The Radical,” in which he said that there had been threats against him but “it just didn’t bother me. The need to be authentic was greater than the fear to die.”

The film also focused on young gay Muslims who said Hendricks provided somewhere they could pray and practice Islam while still being themselves.

The Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa said in a statement Sunday that while it had consistently stated that Hendricks' position was incompatible with Islamic teachings, “we unequivocally condemn his murder and any acts of violence targeting members of the LGBTQ community or any other community.”

Hendricks grew up in a conservative Muslim family and married a woman. He ended the marriage and came out publicly as a gay imam in the mid-1990s and started a support network and later a mosque for gay Muslims. He advocated for their inclusion through his Al-Ghurbaab Foundation and referred to himself as “the world’s first openly queer imam.”

“When I was looking at the way queer Muslims were negotiating this dilemma between Islam and their sexual orientation and identity, I felt compelled to do something about it,” he said, explaining his beliefs. “And I thought, for me to help would probably be for me to be authentic with myself and come out. I think it’s possible to be queer and Muslim or queer and Christian.”

In a message on its official Facebook page, the Al-Ghurbaab Foundation said Hendricks was “a great father and a guardian of many. Continue resting with angels.”

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Gerald Imray, The Associated Press