Click here to view a video recording of this CLGS Lavender Lunch!

In this CLGS Lavender Lunch, we continued the exploration of communities of color living with the intersecting realities of queer identity and religious faith by focusing on LGBTQ organizing within Muslim communities.

Our speaker, Muhsin Hendricks [1967-2025], was an Islamic Scholar and an Imam (religious leader) by profession. A human rights activist focusing on sexual orientation & gender identity in Islam, he pursued independent research on Islam and sexual diversity, an area that is not often explored in the Muslim world.

He was featured in the critically-acclaimed film A Jihad for Love, which focuses on the lives of queer Muslims, and in the documentary film The Radical.

Muhsin Hendricks was an Islamic Scholar with a background of studies in Classical Arabic and Islamic Sciences at the University of Islamic Studies (Jamia-Dirasat Al-Islamiyyah) in Karachi Pakistan (1990-1994).

Muhsin Hendricks also earned a Diploma in Counseling and Communication from the South African College of Applied Psychology and often used his Islamic training in conjunction with his counseling and coaching skills to bring healing to queer Muslims. He founded Al-Ghurbaah Foundation in Cape Town and was the administrator of the Compassion-Centred Islam (CCI Network) for inclusive scholars and religious leaders.

Muhsin Hendricks’ publications include:

• Policy Brief: Islam, Sexual Diversity, and Access to Health
• Islamic Texts: A Source of Acceptance for Queer Individuals into Mainstream Muslim Society
• Islam and Sexual Diversity: Interrogating Heteropatriarchy in Islamic Texts
• Myths and Misconceptions of Homosexuality in Muslim communities
• Forthcoming: From Extremist Exclusion to Radical Inclusion

This CLGS Lavender Lunch was recorded on 6 December 2023