South Africa: Open Letter Rejects ‘Unconstitutional Fatwa’ Against LGBTQIA+ Muslims
A group of Muslim South Africans have released an open letter denouncing the Muslim Judicial Council’s fatwa which they says amounts to hate in a context where the lives of LGBTQIA+ people are already in danger. “It is based on ignorance and reinforces oppression and injustice rather than supporting just, fair and equal ruling,” the letter reads. We publish the open letter below.
The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and the Jamiatul Ulama of South Africa have announced that those who consider themselves homosexual are out of the fold of Islam. They have called for takfir (excommunication) of the Muslim lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community. The punishment for being excommunicated is death.
As queer Muslim South Africans and allies we resist the fatwa unequivocally. The MJC is a self-appointed, unelected and entirely male body, save for the head of their Women’s Forum, that does not represent the Muslim community on any democratic basis. They also do not have religious authority as Islam is not a system that is organised along the lines of such religious intermediaries between people and God.
By Daily Maverick.
