'First Coming Out' South African Islamic Cleric Shot Dead by Assailant

Tragedy Strikes While Visiting to Officiate LGBTQ+ Wedding
"Suspected Hate Crime... Call for Thorough Investigation"

An imam (Islamic cleric) from South Africa, who was the world's first openly gay Muslim, was attacked and killed by armed assailants.

According to the British BBC and others on the 18th (local time), Imam Musin Hendricks (57) was attacked by two men on the 15th in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape Province in the south. Police explained that the suspects, who had their faces covered, blocked the car he was in with a pickup truck and fired multiple shots. Hendricks died at the scene, and the suspects reportedly fled immediately after the crime.

Musin Hendrix, the first imam to come out. The Guardian

The police did not disclose specific motives for the crime, but local LGBTQ+ organizations speculate that Hendricks was targeted because he operated a mosque in Cape Town for homosexuals and marginalized Muslims. Islam strictly prohibits homosexuality according to its doctrine. It was confirmed that he had come to Gqeberha on the day of the incident to officiate a wedding for a same-sex couple.

Hendricks was born in 1967 into a Muslim family in Cape Town and came out in 1996, after which he engaged in related activism. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) expressed condolences, stating, "Hendricks was the world's first imam to come out as gay," and "He supported countless people in South Africa and worldwide on their journey to reconcile faith." They also urged local authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident, suspecting it to be a hate crime.

Meanwhile, South Africa was the first country to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution after the end of apartheid (racial segregation policy) in 1994. In 2006, it became the only African country to legalize same-sex marriage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.