Ismail ibn Musa Menk (27 June 1975-) was the Mufti of Zimbabwe and a Hanbali Salafist motivational speaker.
Biography
Ismail ibn Musa Menk was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1975 to Yemeni immigrant parents, and he studied theology under his father, memorized the Quran, and learned Arabic, Urdu, and Hanafi fiqh. He later specialized in Hanbali fiqh at the Islamic University of Madinah, and he became a well-known teacher in East Africa and abroad. Menk came to be the Mufti of Zimbabwe, and he became known as a motivational speaker with 2.5 million followers on Instagram. While a conservative Salafist, he opposed terrorism and helped to curb extremism in the Maldives. In 2018, he urged Liberian Muslims to avoid Muslim-Christian violence, arguing that Muslims and Christians are brothers and sisters from one father, Adam. However, he drew controversy for his homophobic views, as he said that homosexuals was "filthy" and "worse than animals"; he was banned from Singapore and Denmark.