diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 12cd8865a1..8d3916e26d 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -984,6 +984,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/qt4-ldflags.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/qtscript-disable-tests.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/quagga-reproducible-build.patch          \
+  %D%/packages/patches/quassel-fix-tls-check.patch              \
   %D%/packages/patches/quickswitch-fix-dmenu-check.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/rapicorn-isnan.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/raptor2-heap-overflow.patch		\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/irc.scm b/gnu/packages/irc.scm
index 011665d387..1d6ac82e5f 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/irc.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/irc.scm
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
         (method url-fetch)
         (uri (string-append "http://quassel-irc.org/pub/quassel-"
                             version ".tar.bz2"))
+        (patches (search-patches "quassel-fix-tls-check.patch"))
         (sha256
          (base32
           "0ka456fb8ha3w7g74xlzfg6w4azxjjxgrhl4aqpbwg3lnd6fbr4k"))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/quassel-fix-tls-check.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/quassel-fix-tls-check.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..057bc02a14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/quassel-fix-tls-check.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+This allows quasselclient to connect to SSL-enabled quasselcore instances.
+
+The check in qglobal.h requires -fPIC (not -fPIE as it is now). When this check
+fails SSL / TLS is disabled.
+
+This patch comes from the upstream source repository [0] and can be
+removed when the next version is packaged.
+
+[0] https://github.com/quassel/quassel/commit/4768c9e99f99b581d4e32e797db91d0182391696
+
+--- a/CMakeLists.txt
++++ b/CMakeLists.txt
+@@ -428,6 +428,11 @@ endif()
+ cmake_push_check_state(RESET)
+ set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${QT_INCLUDES} ${Qt5Core_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+ set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${Qt5Core_EXECUTABLE_COMPILE_FLAGS}")
++
++if (USE_QT5 AND Qt5_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE)
++    set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_FLAGS "-fPIC -DQT_NO_VERSION_TAGGING")
++endif()
++
+ check_cxx_source_compiles("
+     #include \"qglobal.h\"
+     #if defined QT_NO_SSL
+