Trans-Queer Muslim Memorial

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh, dearest family,
May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

We are all constantly dying. We honor death as integral to the larger spiral of life. Yet, natural death is typically not how our trans-queer Muslim siblings return to Allah (SWT). Instead, we are stolen from our communities way too early and extremely violently due to marginalization at multiple intersections that systemic oppression forces into the fabric of our existence. And even in our murders, both in life and in death, we are violated — from being kidnapped (as with Eden Knight) to quelling vigils (as with Sarah Hegazi), and so much more. To honor our trans-queer Muslim siblings who have violently removed from us due to systems of oppression, including from chronic illness and slow genocide, MASGD has designed a community-facilitated page, recognizing the sanctity of their passings and curating lasting archival space for their legacies.

While we wholeheartedly embrace natural death as a beautiful transition, we vehemently reject the systemic violence that claims the lives of our trans-queer Muslim community members, expediting their passings and flagrantly dishonoring their dignity in the process. We continue to grieve Imam Muhsin Hendrick’s assassination in February 2025 in South Africa and the martyrdom of innumerable trans-queer Muslim siblings in occupied Falasteen, Sudan, Kashmir, among so many examples. We intentionally make this distinction to recognize our siblings who have passed as our martyrs — putting their entire selves on the line, resisting for our livelihoods and for collective liberation organizing. To fully honor our martyrs, we must continue propelling the world-building work they were murdered for trailblazing.

We personally invite you to engage with this archive attempting to hold our siblings’ lives however you are able to. We curate this to transform the collective grief of our passed trans-queer Muslim siblings into principled activation. Their passings are not just to be witnessed and stagnantly sat with, but rather, are urgent calls to action to materially organize and world-build to prevent the very atrocities we’re recognizing. We encourage our community to start this critical work by reading the memorials that stand as the most beautiful of testaments, submit eulogies to this collective archive, and find grounding in an affirming janazah prayer.

These memorials lose all meaning when we only acknowledge them. Stopping here stagnates our movements. We demand that folks fiercely support the work that is currently happening, instead of just honoring us when we’re dead.

Empire thinks violence will extinguish the intense blaze of militant organizing towards a collectively-liberated world. Instead, it only strengthens our resolve and fuels us for what is to come.

إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

Surely to Allah we belong and to Allah we will all return. 

Qur’an 2:156

“Most knew Sarah as a human rights activist, or as an LGBTQ icon of the Arab world. Her contributions and public identity are paramount and not to be overlooked. … Sarah hated most people and was very upfront about it … Sarah was too picky to eat anything you offered her, but would command you to eat the food that she gave you. Despite her best efforts to heal from horrific trauma, persecution, and loss, and adapt to a new place [so-called canada] with its language and customs, too much had been taken from her. She needed to be home.” ~ Claudia Edwards on Sarah Hegazi