Muhsin Hendricks (June 1967 – 15 February 2025)[1][2] was a South African imam, Islamic scholar and LGBT activist.
[2] He subsequently lived in a barn for three months, fasting for around 80 days and meditating on his faith in the form of istikhaara.
[3] At the time, he was serving as an imam, imparting teachings in mosques and at the nearby madrasa,[6] and he was fired because of his sexual orientation.
[2] In 1996, Hendricks founded the Inner Circle, a support network aiding (but not exclusively for[9]) gay Muslims in coming to terms with their sexual orientation and how this may impact their religious faith.
[6][10] They were founded in response to LGBT Muslims who felt excluded from mainstream mosques during Friday prayers.
In addition to this, in the African context there has often been pushback to LGBT rights from conservative groups of all faiths, who view homosexuality as un-African.