A man regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam has been fatally shot while sitting in a car in South Africa in what many are calling an assassination because of his teachings.

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

Muhsin Hendricks, hailed as the world’s first Imam to say that he was gay, was shot dead in South Africa on Saturday, according to local police as reported by CNN. Citing Eastern Cape Provincial Police,

An Islamic cleric who made history as the world’s first openly gay imam, Muhsin Hendricks, has been killed in South Africa. Hendricks, 57, founded and led a mosque in Cape Town that served as a sanctuary for marginalised Muslims,