diff --git a/redis/asyncio/client.py b/redis/asyncio/client.py
index 3e2912bfca..c817e5a108 100644
--- a/redis/asyncio/client.py
+++ b/redis/asyncio/client.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import copy
 import inspect
 import re
-import ssl
 import warnings
 from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
@@ -71,6 +70,7 @@
 from redis.typing import ChannelT, EncodableT, KeyT
 from redis.utils import (
     HIREDIS_AVAILABLE,
+    SSL_AVAILABLE,
     _set_info_logger,
     deprecated_function,
     get_lib_version,
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@
     str_if_bytes,
 )
 
+if SSL_AVAILABLE:
+    import ssl
+    from ssl import TLSVersion
+else:
+    ssl = None
+    TLSVersion = None
+
 PubSubHandler = Callable[[Dict[str, str]], Awaitable[None]]
 _KeyT = TypeVar("_KeyT", bound=KeyT)
 _ArgT = TypeVar("_ArgT", KeyT, EncodableT)
@@ -227,7 +234,7 @@ def __init__(
         ssl_ca_certs: Optional[str] = None,
         ssl_ca_data: Optional[str] = None,
         ssl_check_hostname: bool = False,
-        ssl_min_version: Optional[ssl.TLSVersion] = None,
+        ssl_min_version: Optional[TLSVersion] = None,
         max_connections: Optional[int] = None,
         single_connection_client: bool = False,
         health_check_interval: int = 0,
diff --git a/redis/asyncio/cluster.py b/redis/asyncio/cluster.py
index 4fb2fc4647..6190cab726 100644
--- a/redis/asyncio/cluster.py
+++ b/redis/asyncio/cluster.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import collections
 import random
 import socket
-import ssl
 import warnings
 from typing import (
     Any,
@@ -70,6 +69,7 @@
 )
 from redis.typing import AnyKeyT, EncodableT, KeyT
 from redis.utils import (
+    SSL_AVAILABLE,
     deprecated_function,
     dict_merge,
     get_lib_version,
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@
     str_if_bytes,
 )
 
+if SSL_AVAILABLE:
+    import ssl
+    from ssl import TLSVersion
+else:
+    ssl = None
+    TLSVersion = None
+
 TargetNodesT = TypeVar(
     "TargetNodesT", str, "ClusterNode", List["ClusterNode"], Dict[Any, "ClusterNode"]
 )
@@ -272,7 +279,7 @@ def __init__(
         ssl_certfile: Optional[str] = None,
         ssl_check_hostname: bool = False,
         ssl_keyfile: Optional[str] = None,
-        ssl_min_version: Optional[ssl.TLSVersion] = None,
+        ssl_min_version: Optional[TLSVersion] = None,
         protocol: Optional[int] = 2,
         address_remap: Optional[Callable[[str, int], Tuple[str, int]]] = None,
         cache_enabled: bool = False,
diff --git a/redis/asyncio/connection.py b/redis/asyncio/connection.py
index 81df3b3543..93139a3125 100644
--- a/redis/asyncio/connection.py
+++ b/redis/asyncio/connection.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import enum
 import inspect
 import socket
-import ssl
 import sys
 import warnings
 import weakref
@@ -27,6 +26,17 @@
 )
 from urllib.parse import ParseResult, parse_qs, unquote, urlparse
 
+from ..utils import SSL_AVAILABLE
+
+if SSL_AVAILABLE:
+    import ssl
+    from ssl import SSLContext, TLSVersion
+
+else:
+    ssl = None
+    SSLContext = None
+    TLSVersion = None
+
 # the functionality is available in 3.11.x but has a major issue before
 # 3.11.3. See https://github.com/redis/redis-py/issues/2633
 if sys.version_info >= (3, 11, 3):
@@ -823,9 +833,12 @@ def __init__(
         ssl_ca_certs: Optional[str] = None,
         ssl_ca_data: Optional[str] = None,
         ssl_check_hostname: bool = False,
-        ssl_min_version: Optional[ssl.TLSVersion] = None,
+        ssl_min_version: Optional[TLSVersion] = None,
         **kwargs,
     ):
+        if not SSL_AVAILABLE:
+            raise RedisError("Python wasn't built with SSL support")
+
         self.ssl_context: RedisSSLContext = RedisSSLContext(
             keyfile=ssl_keyfile,
             certfile=ssl_certfile,
@@ -891,8 +904,11 @@ def __init__(
         ca_certs: Optional[str] = None,
         ca_data: Optional[str] = None,
         check_hostname: bool = False,
-        min_version: Optional[ssl.TLSVersion] = None,
+        min_version: Optional[TLSVersion] = None,
     ):
+        if not SSL_AVAILABLE:
+            raise RedisError("Python wasn't built with SSL support")
+
         self.keyfile = keyfile
         self.certfile = certfile
         if cert_reqs is None:
@@ -912,9 +928,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.ca_data = ca_data
         self.check_hostname = check_hostname
         self.min_version = min_version
-        self.context: Optional[ssl.SSLContext] = None
+        self.context: Optional[SSLContext] = None
 
-    def get(self) -> ssl.SSLContext:
+    def get(self) -> SSLContext:
         if not self.context:
             context = ssl.create_default_context()
             context.check_hostname = self.check_hostname
diff --git a/redis/connection.py b/redis/connection.py
index 617d04af5c..a6077ac1c9 100644
--- a/redis/connection.py
+++ b/redis/connection.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import os
 import select
 import socket
-import ssl
 import sys
 import threading
 import weakref
@@ -44,6 +43,12 @@
     str_if_bytes,
 )
 
+if SSL_AVAILABLE:
+    import ssl
+
+else:
+    ssl = None
+
 if HIREDIS_AVAILABLE:
     import hiredis