Muhsin Hendricks

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Muhsin Hendricks (* 1970 ) is an imam who lives in South Africa . In 1996 he founded The Inner Circle (Islamic Organization for the Social and Spiritual advancement of Sexually Diverse Groups and Individuals, South Africa). Hendricks is considered the world's first imam to be openly gay . He is also the first openly homosexual to be invited to debate with them by the Islamic Social Welfare Council (ISWA), a conservative organization that excluded him years ago for his sexual orientation . Hendricks is a member of the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation's international advisory board .

Life

Hendricks grew up in Cape Town in a deeply religious household. For the Orthodox Muslim community there, his grandfather was an imam, his father a spiritual healer and his mother an Islamic teacher. Between 1990 and 1994, Hendricks studied Arabic, Islamic law and Islamic theology at the University of Karachi (Jamia Dirasat Al-Islamia) in Pakistan .

After graduation, he returned to Cape Town and became a part-time co-imam in a local mosque, taught at three others, and was a respected Arabic teacher. At the age of 23 he agreed to an arranged marriage with a woman who was in principle sympathetic to him, partly because an imam was expected to marry. Shortly before the marriage, he told his wife about his homosexuality. After initially being beside herself, she wanted to help him "solve the problem" and they wanted to try each other anyway. During the year the marriage failed, but the first child was on the way, followed by two more. They divorced after six years. After his mother approached him about rumors a month after the divorce that he had divorced because of his homosexuality, he had his coming out before her . After she first passed out, over time she began to understand. When he was in his first relationship, she came to visit for ten days. When she left, she said to him, "I don't see any difference between your relationship and a straight relationship because you two fight like husband and wife." For him, this was the confirmation that she accepted it from now on.

Rumors surfaced at his school that he was having affairs with his students and he lost his job in the madrasa . So he decided to come out. Over time he realized that he was not the only one and that other gays are also being pushed to marry by social pressure, and that some seek solace in alcohol or even attempt suicide . In 1998 he founded Al-Fitrah , the first homosexual Muslim organization in his country, and went public. According to his own account, he never experienced discrimination in his local community. He still heads the non-profit organization The Inner Circle in Cape Town, which helps homosexual Muslims come out and offers them confidential talks.

Hendricks starred in the documentary A Jihad for Love (2007), which made him known worldwide. He was invited to different countries to speak about homosexuality and Islam.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Inner Circle website of the organization
  2. ↑ a b Advisory Board of the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation hirschfeld-eddy-stiftung.de
  3. ↑ Imam Muhsin Hendricks ( Memento from August 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), A Jihad for Love, film page, September 4, 2007
  4. ↑ Gay Imam  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Description of a television documentary dated June 23, 2002, www.mnet.co.za/m-net channel, Carte Blanche 20@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mnet.co.za  
  5. ↑ a b c d Brian Whitaker: Cape of Good Hope ( Memento from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), al-bab.com, May 2007, originally published in: Gay Times Magazine (GT magazine), May 2007
  6. ↑ a b c d Eric Beauchemin: Gay and Muslim in South Africa ( Memento from June 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), radionetherlands.nl, May 30, 2008
  7. ^ Report from the ILGA World Conference 2006 in Geneva ilga.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Hendricks, Muhsin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African Imam
DATE OF BIRTH 1970