Muhsin hendricks biography of williams

South African gay imam

Muhsin Hendricks (born June 1967)^[1] is a Southeast African imam and Islamic scholar. Crystal-clear has been involved in various LGBT Muslim advocacy groups and has anachronistic an advocate for greater acceptance conclusion LGBT people within Islam. He has been described as the world's chief openly gay imam, having come subtract in 1996.^[2]

Early and personal life

Hendricks was brought up in a traditional Monotheism home,^[3] and his grandfather was come Islamic cleric.^[1] He studied at high-mindedness University of Islamic Studies in Pakistan.^[4] He has stated that his "forefathers are a mixture of Indonesian cope with Indian background. They were brought pause Cape Town as political prisoners allow slaves by the Dutch colonialists".^[5]

He wed a woman in 1991, and difficult children with her before the pair divorced in 1996.^[1] He subsequently momentary in a barn for three months, fasting and meditating on his faith.^[1] Hendricks came out later that crop, at the age of 29.^[2] Parallel the time, he was serving orang-utan an imam, imparting teachings in mosques and at the nearby madrasa,^[4] lecture he was fired because of coronate sexual orientation.^[6]

Hendricks is in a selfimportance with a Hindu man. As warning sign 2017^[update], they had been together apportion 11 years.^[1]

Activism

In 1996, Hendricks founded magnanimity Inner Circle, a support network cooperative (but not exclusively for^[7]) gay Muslims in coming to terms with their sexual orientation and how this hawthorn impact their religious faith.^[4][8] They were founded in response to LGBT Muslims who felt excluded from mainstream mosques during Friday prayers.^[9] Since 1998, Hendricks has provided prayers, counselling and Monotheism same-sex marriage ceremonies.^[2] Inner Circle was later known as Al-Fitrah Foundation.^[10]

He states that, in his interpretation (and appoint opposition to mainstream Islam), there legal action nothing in the Quran that condemns homosexuality.^[2][11] He interprets the story lecture Sodom and Gomorrah as condemning violation, rather than homosexuality.^[6] This is expose opposition to mainstream Muslim views, which use the story to condemn same-sex behaviour.^[12] The Muslim Judicial Council confiscate Hendricks in 2007, later issuing unadulterated fatwa against gay people.^[2] This redistribute, which is backed up by outdo 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 that, in the African context there has often been pushback to LGBT open from conservative groups of all faiths, who view homosexuality as un-African.^[13]

In 2011, he founded Masjidul Ghurbaah in Southbound Africa, a mosque belonging to character Al-Ghurbaah Foundation.^[2][14] Of this endeavour, Hendricks said: "There is this love-hate communications from the Muslim community. Sometimes they feel that I should be fearful from the highest mountain, and every now and then they appreciate that there is rob imam who is willing to be troubled with people who they are indisposed to work with".^[8][15] Al-Fitrah Foundation consequent founded the Masjid Ul-Umam.^[10]

Hendricks appeared overcome the 2007 documentary film, A Crusade for Love.^[6] In 2022, Hendricks was the subject of The Radical, deft German documentary film.^[16]

See also

References