Factsheet

2 1

Factsheet

 /

 November

 2014

Islam

 and

 Sexual

 Diversity

Imam

 Muhsin

 Hendricks

  Executive

 Director,

 The

 Inner

 Circle

2

 out

 of

 3

Muslims

 w illing

 to

 engage

  in

 dialogue

 with

 queer

  Muslims,

 with

 the

  intention

 of

 “finding

 out

  what

 is

 wrong

 w ith

 them”

Attitudes

 Among

 South

 African

 Muslims

  The

 Inner

 Circle

 (TIC)

 is

 a

 leading

 human

 rights

 organization

 that

  seeks

 to

 encourage

 the

 Muslim

 community

 to

 make

 paradigm

  shifts

 regarding

 sexual

 diversity

 amongst

 Muslims.

 In

 2014,

 TIC

  conducted

 a

 research

 project

 spanning

 across

 South

 Africa

 to

 study

  attitudes

 toward

 sexual

 diversity

 amongst

 South

 African

 Muslims.

“Just

 to

 talk

 about

  homosexuality,

 it

 was

  against

 Allah’s

 wish.

 No

 one

  questioned

 religion,

 no

 one

  talked

 about

 such

 a

 thing;

  it’s

 a

 very

 big

 sin.”

  Ibrahim,

 Gay

gender

 binaries

 and

 sexual

 norms.

  Queer

 Muslims

 recount

  experiences

 where

 they

 w ere

  condemned

 and

 rejected

 by

 their

  Muslim

 communities

 because

 of

  their

 sexual

 orientation.

 More

 than

  half

 of

 participants

 reported

 being

  rejected

 by

 their

 families;

 often

  cut

 off

 financially

 and/or

  estranged

 from

 relatives.

 In

 the

  documentary,

 Fitrah

 (2014)

  produced

 by

 TIC,

 every

 queer

  Muslim

 reported

 being

 taken

 to

 an

  Imam...