Muhsin Hendricks showed the world that "it's possible to be both queer and a devout Muslim," says his longtime friend and colleague.

A man hailed as the world’s first imam to say he was gay was shot dead in South Africa on Saturday, local police said, in what rights groups fear could be a hate crime.

Muhsin Hendricks – considered to be the world’s first openly gay imam – has been shot dead during an ambush on his car in South Africa. The Islamic scholar and LGBTQ+ activist who ran a mosque in Cape Town intended as a safe haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims.