New ‘Open Mosque’ in Cape Town welcomes openly gay Muslims

A new “gay-friendly” mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, opened its doors on Friday despite receiving death threats and criticism from the local Muslim community.

The “Wynberg Open Mosque” is the first of its kind in South Africa. It was founded by U.K. based academic Taj Hargey, who told the BBC, “we are opening the mosque for open-minded people, not closed-minded people.”

In addition to welcoming openly gay Muslims, the mosque welcomes women to preach and lead the congregation in prayer, an unconventional and controversial practice in Islam.

The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) in South Africa released a statement on Thursday urging Muslims to stay away from the mosque. Hargey, however, denounced the council’s criticism saying his goal is to counter the rise of radicalism in Islam and to revert to “the original mosque of the Prophet Muhammad, where there were no barriers.”

The council also asked local Muslims to refrain from protesting the mosque.

Despite the MJC’s advice, members of the Muslim community in Cape Town staged a protest outside the gender-equal mosque and prevented worshippers from entering the mosque.

Hargey defended his qualifications and knowledge of Islam.

“I have a PhD in Islamic studies from Oxford University, unlike my opponents who went to some donkey college in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.”