How is Muhsin Hendricks’ murder affecting queer Muslim communities across Africa?

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Africa Daily
Host: Alan Kasuja (BBC World Service)
Episode: "How is Muhsin Hendricks’ murder affecting queer Muslim communities across Africa?"
Date: February 21, 2025

Main Theme:
This episode explores the life, legacy, and tragic death of Muhsin Hendricks—the world's first openly gay imam—and examines the profound impact his murder is having on queer Muslim communities across Africa. Interviews with those who knew him and activists inspired by him shed light on the challenges faced by LGBTQ Muslims: reconciling faith and sexuality, facing threats and hate crimes, and continuing advocacy in the face of risk. The episode also discusses broader issues of intolerance, the effects of fundamentalism, and the fight for justice and inclusion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Life and Legacy of Muhsin Hendricks

• Hendricks as a Trailblazer:

  • The first openly gay imam who publicly reconciled Islam and LGBTQ identity.
  • Founder of The Inner Circle—a support group and safe space for queer Muslims.
  • Established Masjidul Hurba, a mosque that welcomed LGBTQ individuals ([00:55], [02:48]).

• Dedication to Others:

  • Regularly married same-sex and interfaith couples, providing a rare, inclusive spiritual service ([02:48]).
  • Remembered as living a "life of refusal"—refusing to hide or be silenced ([00:08], [07:09]).

• Facing Criticism and Threats:

  • Maintained vocal advocacy despite significant threats from both religious and broader communities ([03:59], [08:43]).
  • Sought to create dialogue around inclusive readings of Islam and sexual orientation ([15:40]).

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2. Hate Crime & the Circumstances of Hendricks' Death

• Attack Details:

  • Hendricks was killed while in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, after officiating interfaith marriages ([04:32]).
  • Shot dead when his vehicle was stopped by an armed man; motive is under investigation, with concerns it may be a hate crime ([04:32]-[05:15]).

• Reaction in South Africa:

  • Widespread grief among those whose lives he touched ([05:18]).
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa commented on X fearing the possibility of a hate crime ([06:11]).
  • Despite progressive constitutional protections, South Africa sees continued hate crimes and alienation of LGBTQ people ([11:53]).

• Current State of Investigation:

  • No arrests at time of episode; investigation ongoing with limited public information ([05:53]).

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3. Personal Reflections and the Broader Impact

Reverend Sharon Cox (Triangle Project, Cape Town)

• Shared Values and Challenges:

  • Emphasizes the challenge of living authentically as both queer and a person of faith ([07:09], [08:20]).
  • Recognizes the toll of hateful rhetoric and the rise of fundamentalist attitudes across religious contexts ([08:43]).

• Solidarity and Ongoing Fear:

  • After Hendricks’ death, queer Muslims (and allies) face heightened fear and insecurity ([10:27]).
  • The legal protections are often “on paper”—not always a lived reality ([11:53]).

• Enduring Influence:

  • Argues that while his physical body was taken, “they will never kill his spirit,” and his legacy will live through those he helped ([12:32]).
  • Calls for not just legal but also rhetorical justice—accountability for those inciting hatred, not only the direct perpetrator ([19:30]).

Quote:
“He refused to be silenced. He refused to be pushed into a closet. You know, he embraced all of who he was, and that's what he wanted for everybody else.”
– Rev. Sharon Cox ([00:08], [07:09])

Quote:
“...that the rhetoric that the commentary that the vileness that we are seeing spewed, which goes as far as celebrating his death, that those people who so brazenly think that they can speak like this on public platforms will be held to account too...”
– Rev. Sharon Cox ([19:30])

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Sim (Co-founder, Loud and Queer Sudan)

• Hendricks’ Influence Beyond South Africa:

  • His work gave hope and courage to queer Muslims in countries with harsh anti-LGBTQ laws ([14:18]).
  • Challenged dominant interpretations of the Quran, showing alternative readings and affirming reconciliation with both Muslim and queer identity ([15:40]).

• Living Under Repression:

  • Describes extreme difficulty of being queer in Sudan—criminalization, past death penalty, compounded by humanitarian crises ([17:11]).
  • Hendricks’ example offers “hope that change eventually come” for oppressed LGBTQ Muslims ([17:47]).

Quote:
“...there has never been a place where LGBTQ people or LGBTQ rights are mentioned in a positive way. It's always being homosexual is a sin and you need to stop that. But building a mosque that include LGBTQ people was really huge for me and influenced me a lot...”
– Sim ([14:18])

Quote:
“...the conflict inside of you, the psychological conflicts and the mental issues facing the queer Muslim people are huge and tremendous. So having a place to feel safe and included and to feel that you are not alone is a huge change to everything.”
– Sim ([15:40])

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4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Authenticity over Fear:

  • Recalled from the documentary “The Radical”:

    “The need to be authentic was greater than the fear to die.”
    – Muhsin Hendricks (summarized by Rev. Sharon Cox) ([09:28])

• On the Cost of Advocacy:

  “He was more intent on using his life to make a better world possible for everybody, even at the risk of his own safety.”
  – Rev. Sharon Cox ([09:45])

• Justice and Moving Forward:

  “Justice for Mahsin looks like the perpetrators of this crime being brought to account... that the rhetoric... celebrating his death, that those people... can speak like this on public platforms will be held to account too.... It's directly inciting hatred, inciting further violence...”
  – Rev. Sharon Cox ([19:30])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction and Tributes to Hendricks – [00:08]-[01:00]
• Overview of Hendricks' Life and Work – [00:55]-[03:32]
• Facing Criticism and Threats – [03:56]-[04:28]
• Details & Investigation of His Murder – [04:32]-[05:53]
• Reaction from South African Community – [05:18]-[06:18]
• Reverend Sharon Cox on Hendricks' Legacy & Dangers of Advocacy – [07:09]-[09:45]
• Psychological Toll and Solidarity – [10:27]-[12:32]
• Impact and Inclusiveness: Sim’s Perspective from Sudan – [13:35]-[17:47]
• Lasting Influence and Justice – [18:21]-[20:46]

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Conclusion

This episode of Africa Daily provides a powerful reflection on Muhsin Hendricks’ groundbreaking legacy for queer Muslims across Africa and the world. His courage in the face of profound risk, his work to bridge faith and sexuality, and the tragic consequences of intolerance are discussed with empathy and depth. Both those who knew him personally and those who felt his influence from afar underline the need for justice—not just in the courts, but in society’s discourse as well. Hendricks’ legacy continues to inspire activism, dialogue, and hope for inclusion, even in the face of escalating challenges.

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Transcript

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Mohsen really lived a life of refusal. He refused to be silenced. He refused to be pushed into a closet. You know, he embraced all of who he was, and that's what he wanted for everybody else.

[Sim]

Mohsen was a very brave and honest and courageous person, and he was inspirational to all of us in Africa and especially in Muslim countries, because he was the first to talk about the intersection between gender identities and sexual orientation. And at the same time, being a Muslim, which has never been talked about before.

[Alan Kasuja]

Mohsen Hendrix was more than a religious leader. He was a trailer blazer. As the world's first openly gay imam, he dedicated his life to challenging perceptions and creating spaces for those who felt rejected. His mother in South Africa on Saturday sent shockwaves, not just through his own community, but far beyond. So today we look at the life and death of Mohsen Hendricks and the impact he leaves behind. I'm Alan Tasucha, and this is Africa Daily. Mohsin believed that religion and sexuality didn't have to be in conflict. After coming out as gay in 1996, he set up an organization called the Inner Circle, a support group and a safe place for other queer Muslims. He later also established the Masjidul Hurba Mosque. For decades, he gave LGBTQ Muslims guidance, support, and a sense of belonging. But his life was tragically cut short on Saturday when he was shot dead in broad daylight in South Africa. I spoke to Nicole McCain, a reporter at News24 in South Africa who has been following the story closely. She starts off by telling me more about who Mohsen Hendricks was.

[Nicole McCain]

Well, Mohsen Hendrix was an openly gay Muslim scholar and imam, and he had a huge impact in South Africa in creating a space for queer people to live their Muslim beliefs, their Islamic beliefs, in a way that allowed them to also honor their sexuality. He was quite widely sought after as a marriage officiant because he would often marry both people of the same sex as well as interfaith couples. So a situation where one partner was Muslim and the other partner was Christian or a different faith or a non believer.

[Alan Kasuja]

There are not that many spaces like those for queer people, are there?

[Nicole McCain]

Not in terms of the Muslim context. There are a lot of very liberal spaces for queer South Africans. There are non denominational officians who will marry queer people. A lot of our scholars and the organizations in the Islamic space in South Africa have quite a traditional view on same sex marriages, and it's not very widely accommodated.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right, so he must have faced quite a lot of criticism.

[Nicole McCain]

Yes, he did face quite a Lot of criticism. We do know that throughout his career, throughout his time as an imam practicing openly gay, he did receive quite a lot of threats. There was definitely a lot of criticism to his views. He was very vocal and often would pass comments on social media, really trying to create a more inclusive space for people. And these were not always taken well. We do know that there was a lot of criticism and that he did have quite a few threats against him.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right. And what do we know so far about what happened, about his killing?

[Nicole McCain]

What we know so far about Imam Hendricks murder is that it took place in the Eastern Cape, which is a coastal province in South Africa. It appears that he'd been in the province to marry two interfaith couples. While he was there, there was an incident in which his vehicle was stopped and an armed man fired into the vehicle, killing him. At this stage, the exact motive behind the murder is not entirely clear. There have been some concerns that it could have been a hate crime based on his sexuality and his faith. Although this is still under investigation and hasn't been confirmed yet, we do know that currently there haven't been any arrests made and the investigation is still underway.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right. And what's the reaction been like in South Africa?

[Nicole McCain]

There's been an absolute outpouring for Imam Hendricks and he appears to have really impacted on quite a number of people's lives. Various couples that he's married, and of course, creating that safe space for queer folk to practice their religion and offer spiritual guidance to them. There's been a lot of distress over the murder that he would potentially have been targeted. And really the sentiment has been just an outpouring of grief from those who knew him.

[Alan Kasuja]

Any updates at all from the authorities on the investigation? Is anything. Are they saying anything at all?

[Nicole McCain]

We do know that the investigation is underway. There hasn't been a lot of information shared about the investigation. Of course, it is sensitive and we wouldn't want anything to jeopardize that investigation. So all we know at the moment are the facts about the murder and that the police are still looking for the suspect.

[Alan Kasuja]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken out on X, saying that he fears this may be a hate crime. I wonder if this sort of thing is common in South Africa.

[Nicole McCain]

We do have high levels of crime in South Africa. There is also, on occasion, incidences of hate crimes targeting queer folk or xenophobia. These are not, I wouldn't say common, but they do occur from time to time.

[Alan Kasuja]

And for those who knew him personally, it's of course, a huge, devastating loss. Next I spoke to Reverend Sharon Cox, a close friend and former colleague in the queer interfaith community. She is the health and support service manager at the Triangle Project, an LGBTQ rights organization based in Cape Town. Beyond her shared advocacy work, she also remembers Mohsen as a person.

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Mohsen was an incredible person. He was committed not only to making life better for himself as a person of deep faith and a person who was gay, but making it better for others. And I think that's what we, who are in positions of leadership within faith beliefs, hope that we can do. I think many of us know the struggle intimately of reconciling our sexuality and spirituality. And for those of us that have resulted, we understand the freedom that it gives others to not have to abandon one for the other or not have to live an authentic life because you feel you cannot embrace both together. So Mahsin really lived a life of refusal. He refused to be silenced. He refused to be pushed into a closet. You know, he embraced all of who he was, and that's what he wanted for everybody else.

[Alan Kasuja]

His job, his work, not which is similar to what you are doing. Seems like it was tough work. What sort of challenges did he face, do you think?

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Mohsin and I had had conversations and years gone by about the toughness of it in terms of our faith, belief and conflict, or supposed conflict with our sexual orientation. Muhsin was no stranger to the dangers of it. He was no danger to receiving threats.

[Alan Kasuja]

Where were the threats coming from?

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

The threats are mainly from the community, you know, the broader community and the faith community in which he lived and worked. But I think one needs to be careful to not just make this about the fact that it's an Islamic issue or it's a Christian issue. I think this is a fundamentalist, you know, people with fundamentalist thinking. We see a rise in it in today's world. We seeing it more and more. This intolerance, this hatred, this prejudice, it comes from many quarters, and that's frightening that somebody of his stature, somebody that was in the role that he was in, that was a leader, that was a human being, could be snuffed out in this way because of who he was.

[Alan Kasuja]

And 2022, a documentary, the Radical, is released. In it, he says the need to be authentic was greater than the fear to die. I wonder what he meant by that. He was very clear about the risks he was taking, right?

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Yes, absolutely. And I think that line right there indicates that that is how he lived his life. He was not unaware or unaccustomed to Threats. He knew it. He knew it well. He was more intent on using his life to make a better world possible for everybody, even at the risk of his own safety. And sadly, now we live with the reality of his loss.

[Alan Kasuja]

Now, you're Christian. He was Muslim, but you do the same work. Pretty much. Are people that you know in that space doing same work as you do, as he did, being a bit more careful now following his death?

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Absolutely, yes. I think, particularly at this time, sadly, people of Muslim faith who are queer. We've seen outpourings of hateful rhetoric online. One doesn't need to scroll far to see the threats that have been leveled against people, some targeting individual people. And it's hateful. And so, of course, people are very afraid, they feel insecure. But we can never let hate win like this. I think where one can really get bogged down is, you know, the psychology of it, the hatefulness of it. It can tear you up if you get too deep into the hole of what people say. For myself, for Mohsen, being gay or being lesbian is not something we do. It's who we are. And so when people are, you know, vile in the attacking of that, you're not speaking about something that I'm doing. You're attacking me as a human, as who I am. And that aspect of it, for me personally, as Christian clergy, that takes its toll at times, to be told constantly how vile you are.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right, yeah. And this is happening in South Africa, which probably has the biggest protections for the LGBTQI community on the continent, but it signifies the sort of alienation, the sort of risks that people in that community continue to face.

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Absolutely. And it's very interesting you say that. And yes, we do have a very progressive constitution that contains protection, but that is a paper. Right. It's not a lived reality. We see hate crimes in this country all too often, unfortunately. Nobody's going to stop and say, wait a minute, there's a hate crime law. I better not kill this person. But at least in place, we have legal protections.

[Alan Kasuja]

Do you think he's the sort of guy that will be very quickly forgotten? People's lives move on, if you know what I mean. People move on with their lives. And murder in South Africa is unfortunately commonplace.

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

That's right. And hate crimes, sadly, is commonplace. So not every hate crime is garnering the same media attention, the same attention as the murder of Mohsin. And so you're very right. You know, the headlines come and go, the sensational aspect comes and goes, but with Mahsin, they have targeted Somebody who was one of very few in this country, probably the only person who was out about his sexual orientation and held the title, which one sees now too, is demeaned, you know, putting imam in inverted commas or so called imam, as if he wasn't a deep, committed scholar to the work and studied long and hard for this. So what won't be forgotten is the impact that this has had his work. The people who have killed him have killed his physical body, but they will never kill his spirit.

[Alan Kasuja]

You're listening to the BBC's Africa Daily podcast with me, Alan Kasuja. Today we are discussing the killing of Mohsen Hendricks, a 57 year old, widely respected queer Muslim leader whose advocacy changed lives. We've heard from Sharon, his close friend and colleague. But Mohsin's impact reached far beyond Cape Town in North Africa. His work deeply influenced Sim, a queer Sudanese Muslim who co founded Loud and Queer Sudan, an online platform and community for LGBTQ Sudanese Muslims. She told me why Mohsin's work meant so much to her.

[Sim]

My whole life, mosque is a place where there is Quran, there is people praying all the time, and there has never been a place where LGBTQ people or LGBTQ rights are mentioned in a positive way. It's always being homosexual is a sin and you need to stop that. But building a mosque that include LGBTQ people was really huge for me and influenced me a lot and gave me a lot of courage to advocate and be an activist for LGBTQ community rights in our Muslim country. And his legacy encourages too many of us to challenge societal norms and fight for a more inclusive world, which motivates queer Muslims to continue advocating for our community and to initiate a dialogue around acceptance and understanding, especially among the Muslim communities, as I said, where a lot of LGBTQ people struggle to mix the two essential parts of their identities, I.e. being Muslim and gay.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right. A lot of people point to the Quran and say it says that you can't be both Muslim and queer. I wonder how his message and work challenged that idea.

[Sim]

He worked a lot on that by talking about the narrative, the Islamic narrative, especially talking about that there is other interpretations and understanding of the Quran verses that talk about homosexuality, quote, unquote, sodomy. He was one of the first to say that verses talking about the story of the Prophet Lot are meant to prohibit the act of violence that was committed by Lot's people, which was more of a rape, which is far away from having consensual relationship between two adults, regardless of their gender. I think that that point was extremely important and was needed. It helped a lot to accept that the interpretation of Quran are rooted in the cultural context rather than the texts themselves. That conflict inside of you, the psychological conflicts and the mental issues facing the queer Muslim people are huge and tremendous. So having a place to feel safe and included and to feel that you are not alone is a huge change to everything. For example, I live in Sudan, and that idea by itself, although I've never been into his mosque, but the idea has changed a lot into me, let alone the people who go there and pray every day.

[Alan Kasuja]

Yeah. So it's difficult to be queer in Sudan at the moment.

[Sim]

Yes, of course it's extremely difficult. Sudan, one of the countries that criminalizes homosexuality. And in the past few years, the punishment for it was the death penalty. So it is extremely hard, especially in those days where Sudan is going through the worst humanitarian crisis in the modern history, and LGBTQ people are going through a very dire situations in war zones and also outside of the war zones. But people like Hendrix giving us always a hope that change eventually come.

[Alan Kasuja]

Right. And when you heard, therefore, that he'd been shot, what went through your mind? What was your reaction? Did you immediately link it to his work?

[Sim]

Yes, of course. The first thought I said to myself, it's definitely, I hate crime. I felt extreme, extremely. A deep sense of shock and sadness. It's a very painful reminder of the work is still needed to ensure safety and acceptance for everyone, regardless of their identity.

[Alan Kasuja]

Now I want to end this episode with Reverend Sharon Cox as she reflects on one of her most memorable, memorable moments with Mohsen Hendricks.

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

There's so many, but one that I can think of that I was just reflecting on recently was through my work at Triangle, and I had a young Muslim woman, and she was being held in an area against her will, and the family were saying that she wasn't there against her will, and we managed to get her out. And after that, following that, I desperately needed to see Mohsin, and he was that place for me, because this act that had taken place was deeply rooted in a faith belief. And it was helpful for me to be able to have Mohsen to speak to and also for the young woman to speak to, because this is what she had lived, and Muhsin understood that too well. He was a very compassionate man.

[Alan Kasuja]

And what does justice for him look like for me?

[Reverend Sharon Cox]

Justice for Mahsin looks like the perpetrators of this crime being brought to account that whoever is behind this is also brought to account that the rhetoric and I think this is one of the important things that maybe is different in Morsine's case than it is in other cases, that the rhetoric that the commentary that the vileness that we are seeing spewed, which goes as far as celebrating his death, that those people who so brazenly think that they can speak like this on public platforms will be held to account too, and people will see, yes, in this country, we do have the freedom of speech, we have the freedom of religion, but it has its limits. One cannot go about doing things like this. And I think in Mohsin's case, justice for me will look like that. People that think that they can do that, it's directly inciting hatred, inciting further violence, possibly that those people are also held to account.

[Alan Kasuja]

My condolences to Mohsin's family and loved ones. A very big thank you to Reverend Sharon Kohler Simsim and Nicole McCain for speaking with me today. Africa Daily is a BBC World Service production and this episode was produced by Angie Olosunde, edited by Rosanna La Falche and Simon Peeks. For more in depth stories, check out our sister podcast, Focus on Africa and want to hear from you. Send us your thoughts africadailybc.co.uk or just find me on X where my handle is at Kasuja and that's with two Js.