Muslims cannot hide from appalling abuse
THE Newcastle grooming case, involving the sexual abuse of more than 20 vulnerable women and girls, has appalled us all this week. It has clear similarities to grooming cases in Rotherham and Rochdale, involving gangs of British Asian men abusing white girls. We cannot hide from the fact that the perpetrators of these appalling crimes were mostly Muslims. So that means we need to raise this issue and have this conversation within the Muslim community. Everyone in Britain has a responsibility to uphold the law and protect the most vulnerable, and that means British Muslims do too.
That’s why I will be using today’s Friday prayers at my mosque in Leeds to address this with my congregation.
We need to condemn the actions of these predators. They call themselves Muslims but their actions are in opposition to Islam. My faith obliges me and all others to be active in preventing any unacceptable sexual behaviour and abuse of women. If it is cultural prejudices that have led these men to prey on white girls, seeing them as “easy meat”, then this needs to be addressed. There can be no excuse if members of the British Pakistani community are aware of people exploiting children and young girls and not reporting the wrongdoers. There can be no defence of protecting the “family honour” of these criminals. There is no honour in criminality.
We need to look at the disconnect between community elders and young people in our community – to stop young men getting into bad ways to rebel against their families and their religion. And we should look to those elders too, who sometimes prefer to blame women – or even evil spirits – rather than accept that these young men can be responsible for such terrible crimes. We must accept that these abuses could be happening in our own neighbourhoods.
But responsibility cannot be limited to one community. Sexual abuse is not an “Asian issue” or a “Muslim issue” – most child sex abusers are white men. But it is the duty of everyone to do all they can to prevent abuse. We should be united against sexual exploitation and Muslims must be part of the solution. We must send out a clear message that abuse and abusers will not be tolerated in any part of Britain. Imam Qari Asim is the imam of Makkah mosque in Leeds