Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, has praised the late former President of the Muslim Judiciary Council, Moulana Ighsaan Hendricks, as someone who personified the process of social cohesion.
Hendricks died in Cape Town on Friday night at the age of 54 after a long illness related to kidney failure.
He was a long-time pro-Palestinian campaigner, and has been described as a Muslim Scholar and humanitarian of note.
Mthethwa was among mourners who came to pay their last respects at Hendricks’ funeral in Athlone in Cape Town.
He says, “The president is grieving for the passing on of this leader, not just a cleric, but a community activist. This is somebody who, when he was elected as the president of the Muslim Judicial Council, invited President Mandela to come.”
Mourners have described Hendricks as an exemplary humanitarian and an Islamic scholar of distinction. He served as president of the Muslim Judicial Council for 10 years.
Hendricks was a tireless campaigner for human rights and a staunch supporter of the Palestinian Solidarity movement.
A community in mourning gathered to pay their last respects to an esteemed leader, not just in the Muslim community in South Africa, but also abroad.
Brother Omar Hendricks says, “I will remember my brother as an exceptionally well human being – a person that I respected in every aspect and a person that was a guardian for us youngest ones in the family.”
An unrelenting social activist, Moulana Hendricks established the Al Quds Foundation office in South Africa.
MJC Deputy President, Abdul Khaliq Allie says Hendricks was a patriot and an intellectual.
“He was a great promoter of citizenship and he was an intellectual.”
