Zambia’s Self Declared Satanist Speaks Out Against Christianity

By Paul Shalala

Alex Chisulu

People have called him a mad man, a witch, all sorts of names but he calls himself a good man.

Renting a small house in Kitwe’s bustling Bulangililo neighbourhood is 46 year old Alex Mwamba Kazhimbala Chisulu, a controversial Satanist who has left a community divided over his religious views.

The walls inside his house are decorated with Satanic symbols which he proudly explained during an interview.

He is actually a former Catholic Priest who controversially converted to a religion which most Zambians hold with fear and suspicion: Satanism.

For years, he has confused his neighbours, annoyed his landlord and created tension in the area were he lives.

Since he is an open Satanist, people around him have linked all their misfortunes to him.

“Even witchcraft, sicknesses and other misfortunes are blamed on me, but am a clean man, I have never touched or slapped anyone, am clean,” he said in an exclusive interview.

To understand why Chisulu is such a divisive figure, it is important to get back to the bottom of the matter and trace his history.

Chisulu was born in 1972 in the northern Zambian town of Solwezi, a mineral rich town which has been millions of investments by multi-national conglomerates in the recent past.

He is a highly educated man who earns his living by conducting tuitions to adults in his house.

People who drive expensive cars come in the evening, park their vehicles and sit down to learn from a man who does not shy away from being identified as a follower of Satan.

Inside his house is a black board and a box of chalk which he uses for his tuition sessions.

Priesthood

Chisulu says he entered the Saint Augustine Major Catholic Seminary in Kabwe to study for priesthood and spent three years there.

“While at the seminary, I discovered that am a very critical person, I ask too many questions. Here I was studying Philosophy and it gave me room to question many things and understand man. I graduated with a Diploma.”

He boasts that even lecturers knew him as an inquisitive person who questioned everything.

Between 1997 and 2002, Chisulu enrolled at Saint Dominic's Major Seminary in Lusaka were he studied for his Bachelor in Theology, a course which he says was difficult because he was not allowed to question church doctrines.

Some of the Satanic symbols 

in his house

He says despite being critical about the course, he completed and graduated.

“I was later ordained as a Priest in Solwezi and sent to Manyinga, an area which was part of Kabompo District but is now a new district.

“In Manyinga I felt too much opposition because I ran a lot of businesses like chicken rearing, livestock and I was even building the first ever filling station in the area. The 2-3 years I spent there were difficult,” he added.

Chisulu alleges that one day his Bishop showed up at his house in a Land Cruiser and delivered a letter of transfer and gave him a few minutes to pack his belongs and leave for Solwezi.

He was then taken to Saint Kizito in Solwezi were he became an assistant to another Priest.

He said the move annoyed him and he immediately applied for leave of absence.

That is how his priesthood ended.

Enter Satanism

Having left the ministry, Chisulu decided to relocate to the Copperbelt to start a new life.

“I first rented a house in Kwacha township before I moved to Bulangililo were am currently living. Its here were I met this woman who I married but it didn’t last, because of my religion (Satanism) she accused me of all sorts of things and left,” said Chisulu.

I then got a job at Brightway School were I started teaching to earn a living.

He says on July 6, 2016 he experienced something strange which made him shake and felt weak.

“I used to meditate in the morning before class, but on this day I had a strange feeling. I felt a crack on my head, I felt a flash light, my limbs were jerking and I couldn’t teach.”

He says he left school and went home and to date he still feels the jerks.

Chisulu says that experience was his awakening and transformation into a Satanist.

He says he felt something like a snake which went through his spine and came out through the head and since then, his eyes are open and he now knows what is right and what is wrong.

“I practice a religion called Orionism. Satan is the Emperor of the Orion hence I discovered this religion to be Orionism,” he said.

Chisulu says he decided to become a Satanist after much research on the role of religion in life.

His Views On Christianity and Islam

After much research, Chisulu says the theology taught in Christianity and Islam is fake and it is full of violence.

He gives examples mostly from the Old Testament were God killed enemies of the children of Israel or his followers who sacrificed their children to God as examples of violence allegedly promoted by the Bible.

“I got to learn that Christianity is fake, it’s a hoax, its wicked, very evil and its same with Islam which promotes Jihad or Holy War which kills people. The only true religion I came ti understand is Satanism. Satan means the truth according to an ancient Hindi script.”

Chisulu goes on to talk about Genesis 2:17 were the Bible talks about the Garden of Eden and how God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge.

He trashes the Biblical account saying there were lies in God’s instructions and the serpent (He calls it Satan) told them the truth).

“That whole scenario was fake. When I researched, I found out that there was no tree. That so-called tree is actually a man’s spine because it is the center of the body. Jehovah (He calls God as Jehovah) was scared of Adam knowing the truth that is how he lied to him. Most people in Christianity are lost, they were cheated.”

He claims that Christianity and Islam are just a program designed to destroy humanity and that Jesus is a fictitious character.

He wonders why Christians celebrate the death of Jesus instead of resurrection.

He describes it as glorifying violence instead of embracing life.

“What is the purpose of a dead man on the cross to us? Christians are lost, they are cheated, they are confused,” he said.

He goes on to cite many Bible verses were children of God killed their enemies and says violence was promoted in the Bible.

Chisulu claims Christianity has been a threat to world peace and in Zambia since the declaration of the county as a Christian Nation in December 1991, divorces have shot up, deaths have skyrocketed, evil has increased.

He says the only religion which can cleanse the works is Satanism.

Orionism And His Role

Chisulu acknowledges that Satan lost the battle to God but he claims he will have a come back soon.

“Satan is on his way back to victory because he is the truth. If I was given chance on a Television program, I can help people think properly and convert them to Satanism, people are lost.”

He says Christians go to church and make noise and achieve nothing because they are misled.

When asked why he lives in poverty when it is believed that Satanists get a lot of money upon being initiated, Chisulu said Satanism is an awakening and not a business.

“If you join Satanism thinking you will make money then you are in a wrong place. When you are a Satanist, you gain a third eye and the sixth sense. You will be enlightened and be able to see things other people cant see,” said Chisulu.

His Eviction Over Satanism

Last week, Chisulu was given notice by his landlord to vacate his rented house because his neighbours were not comfortable with his presence.

On Saturday as ZNBC reporter Wamundila Chilinda was interviewing him at his house, hundreds of Bulangililo residents gathered in no time.

They started stoning his house, smashing the windows.

Bulangililo residents who gathered to stone Mr. Chisulu

Things could have been worse but heavily armed officers from Riverside Police Station arrived on site within minutes and rescued him.

He was whisked away to an unknown lodge were he has spent the last five nights.

His belongings, a handful of chairs and clothes, are still stuck in his house as he is scared of  being lynched by his neighbours.

A good Samaritan has been paying for his room at a lodge and even bought him some clothes so that he can be changing.

Despite all this, Chisulu still believes Satanism has the real truth and other religions are fake.

“My god Satan has brought me here so that people can come to know the truth, he said.”

He was recently spotted at a popular bar, sipping some cold ones while looking unworried.

In a Christian nation like Zambia, it is not known how far Chisulu will go in practicing Satanism openly.

A number of prominent foreign preachers and South African artist Zodwa Wabantu were denied entry in the country due to what the Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Values calls “Unchristian” beliefs and acts.

By the way, Chisulu says he is now studying for his Master in Business Administration at Cavendish University and he is more normal than people accusing him to be mad.

“When you look at me, do I look mad? Tell me, am I mad?” said Chisulu as he smiled.

Muhsin Hendricks: The World's First Openly Gay Islamic Cleric

Imam Muhsin Hendricks -Pictures by Robert Wanjala

 By Paul Shalala in Cape Town, South Africa

He is a man who was married to a woman and had three children but divorced her and later married a Hindu man.

Imam Muhsin Hendricks is the world’s first Islamic Cleric to come out in the open that he is gay.

He is a well trained Islamic cleric who studied classical Arabic and Islamic Sciences at Jamia-Dirasat Al-Islamiyyah (University of Islamic Studies) in the Pakistani city of Karachi between 1990 and 1994.

Childhood and first marriage

Iman Hendricks was born 49 years ago born in Landsdown, Cape Town in South Africa.

In a wide ranging interview he recently gave me and some reporters in Cape Town, the cleric says he started noticing traits of homosexuality in his life at the age of five.

“At five, I started playing with toys for girls. And in my teenage years, I found myself loving men. 

My father never spoke about my sexuality and that gave me some peace,” said the Imam.

He claims that when he completed his clerical studies, he was forced to marry a woman.

“They forced me to marry a woman because there is a belief that an Imam cannot be without a woman. The same woman was very much in love with me.”

However, that marriage did not last.

In six years, the couple had three children and they later divorced.

Divorce and Gay Marriage

After the divorce, the cleric says his children suffered as they faced discrimination based on his sexuality.

His two daughters have since been married and he says he has a good relationship with them.

Soon after the divorce, Iman Hendricks says he went into prayer and fasting to find a way of surviving within Islam.

He dated a Hindu man for five years before they got married.

The couple has now been married for five years.

 “My ex-wife and I have since moved on. I have married a Hindu man and I know I again broke the rule. We have since adopted two children. My former wife has married another man and they have two children,” he said while laughing.

Making History as first Gay cleric

Imam Hendricks says after years of reflection and research, in 1998 he decided to come out of the closet and openly declared his sexuality which made it to the front pages of South African tabloids.

He became the world’s first Islamic cleric to openly declare he was gay and since then, a few other Islamic leaders in France, the USA, Canada and Australia have followed suit.

In 2004, the Imam went further to form The Inner Circle, a non-governmental organisation which is championing the rights of homosexuals in the Islamic world.

“The organisation offers a lot of help to homosexuals in Islam. We plan to start training our own Imams who will not be preaching against homosexuality. We currently have 18 trainers in several countries were we support other gay muslims.”

The organisation also creates what they call safe spaces for Islamic homosexuals where they can feel free to live and strengthen the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.

The All Inclusive mosque

Iman Hendricks with the author during the interview

Within Cape Town, the Imam runs his own mosque where gays worship from and women are allowed to also say their prayers inside the mosque, in contrast with mainstream Islam were women don’t enter the building.

“Women do not cover their face when coming to our mosque. Both queers and straight people come for Friday prayers.”

Since 2011, Iman Hendricks has been conducting same sex marriages for muslims and people of other faiths in his mosque.

Opposition from Muslim leaders

Since becoming openly gay, the Imam’s activism has also taken him to the mainstream media.

In 2007, he released a documentary titled “A Jihad for Love” which was received with huge opposition and the Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa even issued a fatwa against him.

A fatwa is an instruction issued by an Islamic authority on an issue seen to be against Islam.

In some countries, fatwas have led to followers issuing threats, causing violence and even killing people named in the fatwas. 

However, the fatwa against Iman Hendricks was not acted upon and he is still safe, travelling around the country and the world, spreading his version of Islam which embraces homosexuality.

This week he was scheduled to appear on a radio station in Durban to spread his activism.

But local muslim leaders blocked the program on account that he was no longer a muslim.

With 20 years of fighting for homosexuals within Islam, Imam Hendricks says he is not in conflict with his religion.

“Am in conflict with tradition and not Islam. I work with some Imams who are progressive in thinking. Islam does not say homosexuality is wrong, it is silent.”

Homosexuality in Islam

In a 30 minutes powerpoint presentation he made to reporters in Cape Town on Monday, Imam Hendricks quoted various scholarly works showing some poets who he claims were gay.

One of those highlighted was Abu Nawas whom he says praised teenage boys in some of his poetry.

He also showed a photo of gay men holding hands at an Islamic gathering which he says was drawn in 1798.

Asked why there are no known lesbians in Islam, the cleric said Islam is patriarchal and not much is said about women.

“The Quran says women must sit at the back not to distract men as they kneel to worship. Maybe this was done so that men do not look at women’s buts,” he said.

His organisation The Inner Circle is funded by among others, Oxfam South Africa and the Open Society Foundation.

Since he embarked on his crusade for Islam to embrace homosexuality, Imam Hendricks says he has no plans to make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca which he did before he became openly gay.

How Islam Came To Be A Dominant Religion In Nsama District

By Paul Shalala in Nsama

Muslim women clad in hijabs

It may be unusual in some parts of Zambia to see women clad in the Arabic hijab attire but here in Nsama District of Northern Province, this is a common site.

For the men, wearing the japar, a simple head dress is also part of the dressing here.

According to local Muslim leaders, Islam has been a dominant force in Nsama for hundreds of years.

But how did this religion come to this remote area?

How come this small and remote district has managed to have 18 mosques and thousands of members?

These are the questions I posed to local muslim leaders who know something about this topic.

"Islam came with a muslim businessman by the name of Abdullah. He was very kind and taught people the goodness of Islam. This is why you are seeing that hundreds of people are joining the religion here," said Abdallah Bin Sleman the Amir of Nsama Mosque.

But according to locals, Abdullah was actually a slave trader who bought slaves and transported them to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.

However, non of the muslim leaders here agree that the slave trade in the 1800s brought Islam to Nsama.

"Islam came with good people. These people taught the word of God and brought good to society. It is these good works that have attracted people to Allah and Islam. It is not true that Abdullah bought and sold slaves," said Sheikh Yahya John of Kabuta Mosque.

The history of muslims in this area keeps changing depending on who is narrating it to you.

But according to oral tradition, Islam came with some Tanzanians who were invited to help the local Tabwa people in the 1800s when they were under attack by the Bembas who were trying to conquer Tabwaland and extend the Chitimukulu’s chiefdom.

"We had wars here. The Bembas were fighting to conquer us so that we can become their subjects. They had spears and bows and arrows but we had nothing," said Renwick Musonda, a local historian.

He says because of the abundance fish in the many rivers and lakes in Nsama, the Bembas were interested in snatching the land so that it can be of benefit to their kingdom.

"We were almost defeated and we decided to invite our muslim friends in Tanzania who had guns. They fought with the Bembas and repulsed them."

It is believed that after this victory, the Tabwa people allowed the Tanzanians to settle in Tabwaland and today, two sub-chiefs here have Tanzanian roots.

"As a way of saying thank you, we allowed our muslim friends to stay. Thats how today we have two sub-chiefs with Tanzanian blood. They are now part of us. We freely marry each other and live together," said Jonas Musenge, another historian.

But most young people in Nsama have accepted oral tradition as the best explanation of how Islam came to this region.

They are taught from a tender age that the Bembas wanted to conquer Tabwaland due to its rich fish species found in several lakes, rivers and streams.

"I was born here in Nsama and went to marry in Mporokoso where they used to laugh at us that we were defeated by the Bembas. Actually i explained to them that it was actually the Tabwas who defeated the Bembas with the help of the muslims who were better armed," said Jerian Kasankula, a local youth.

The Muchinga Escarpment

From oral tradition, it is also claimed that the hills that separate Bembaland from Tabwaland came to be known as Muchinga Escarpment because they helped protect the Tabwas from the conquering Bemba warriors.

In Bemba, the word ukuchingilila means protection hence the name Muchinga.

Despite having multiple explanations on the history of Islam in Nsama, one thing is for sure: Islam is here to stay and it has had a huge impact on society.

People's ways of life has changed and their dressing has also been transformed.

Zambia is constitutionally a christian nation but other religions are also allowed to flourish just like Islam is doing in Nsama District.