A Muslim man has been beaten to death in Ventersdorp, allegedly by two people who insulted him because of his beard, a family friend said on Wednesday.

Mohammed Fayaaz Kazi, 27, was with his father's friend Anser Mahmood when he was attacked at a Chicken Licken outlet on Monday.

"Two white people... they called him [Osama] bin Laden in Afrikaans because of his beard...and then they called us kaffirs," Mahmood said on Wednesday.

"Fayaaz, he understood Afrikaans, and was arguing with them."

All four were thrown out of the fast food shop, and the fight continued outside.

"I asked why they were troubling him and he punched me," Mahmood, 33, said.

"I don't know what he hit me with. I was unconscious."

Mahmood was mostly hit in the face. Kazi was beaten over the head.

Mahmood said he did not know what object was used to attack Kazi as he was lying on his side.

"Nobody helps us," he said.

Kazi was transferred from one hospital to another before dying at a medical facility in Potchefstroom from brain damage. His funeral was held on Tuesday.

Mahmood said a murder docket had been opened at the Potchefstroom police station. Provincial police spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubani could not be reached for comment.

Bin Laden was the founder of al-Qaeda, which the United States claimed was responsible for the September 11, 2001, suicide attacks on the country. He was killed by US soldiers in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.