In the last 24 hours we have seen back-to-back coverage and countless commentators, politicians and self-styled spokesman lining up to talk about Islam and ‘extremism’.

The media has labelled this killing an act of ‘terror’ against an entire population, when it has the appearance of a targeted, bloody act that would shock anyone with concern for human life. Sadly, such labeling of some acts of violence as ‘terrorism’ and others as ‘targeted strikes’ or ‘defensive actions’ underline the fact that much of commentary is little more than propaganda.

Political leaders march out to say they will not be cowed by ‘terror’, but then give the impression that everyone ought to be terrified – by talking of instructing off-duty soldiers to wear civilian clothing instead of uniform. We would not be surprised if they went on to implement some macho security measures, so exacerbating ordinary peoples’ fears that they are in immediate mortal danger from a hidden enemy.

In their rush to comment before the facts are clear, some panicky Muslims protest their innocence – and inadvertently reinforce the false narrative that the Muslim community isn’t doing enough to prevent this type of attack. They would do well to hear the intelligent view expressed that Muslims shouldn’t have to distance themselves from this sort of attack.

Far-right bigots use the episode to make a more generalised attack on Muslims, immigrants and ‘creeping Shari’ah’ – whilst the MP George Galloway has somehow made a comparison to those rebelling against Assad in Syria! Within hours, everyone seems to be making political mileage out of this incident, before all the facts are actually confirmed

In the face of this complex situation we make the following statements:

1. This episode will once again be used to try to silence critics of UK foreign policy and label religious Muslims as extreme.

The narrative that has been spun for the past 8 years in the UK is that British government foreign policy is NOT the cause of terror. Rather, it is spun that Muslims who have a grievance about foreign policy or who are more religious are the dangerous ones.

Those who are religious, who hold orthodox Islamic views, will be labelled with increased vigour as ‘extremists’ on a road to terrorism and those who legitimately criticise belligerent, colonial policies in the Muslim world will be labelled as peddling a perverse ideology that needs tackling at its root.

We urge Muslims to resist this pressure. Whilst it is necessary to clarify to everyone that Islam considers it haram to take innocent life, it would be wrong to become silent about injustices where we see them. One should not allow fanatical media coverage to silence our criticism and the work to eradicate the scourge of occupation and colonialism in the Muslim world and unite the Muslim Ummah under the Islamic Khilafah State.

Allah (swt) says:

Believers, have taqwa of Allah, and speak in a direct fashion and to good purpose, and He will put your actions right for you and forgive you your sins. [Surah Ahzab 33:70].

If today is not the day to address foreign policy or injustices in Muslim lands, then tomorrow is not a day to remain silent about such matters. To address such things in a political and intellectual way is not ‘extremism’, but part of what our Deen instructs in speaking against munkar.

Nor would it be right for Muslims to shy away from what Islam really does say about war and peace, fighting and political matters – allowing the vacuum to be filled by people who either justify every act of violence through Islam, or who say Islam has nothing to say about such matters.

Our words should be frank but not discourteous, honest but not trampling over people’s concerns and sensitivities.

2. This episode will be used to create fear about Islam amongst ordinary people in society, stirring hatred and peddling myths.

Average men and women in the UK get their information about Islam from politically motivated media stereotypes – and individuals who are either paid or promoted to tell them that ‘Islamists’ (their words for those who look to Islam to address any of life’s affairs) are today’s bogeymen.

It is only when sincere Muslims up and down the UK engage with people upon an honest and complete view of Islam – through their ideas and deeds – that an average UK man or woman has any chance of understanding anything different.

Our duty as Muslims in the West is to carry this Deen and to explain it in an honest way to the ignorant or misled.

We should open our Mosques and invite neighbours to talk about Islam – and be prepared to answer the difficult questions non-Muslims have.

We must instruct our community on how to be able to answer these difficult questions – not to shy away from them, nor to reinvent Islam to make it compatible with secular-liberal ideas, thinking we are pleasing them.

We should hold fast to the noble Islamic values so that in our personal lives people see the example of this beautiful Deen.

We should not fall into traps laid for us, to become locked into the agenda of the far-right racists and so get entangled into conflicts with people who are essentially jahil – when Allah SWT tells us that the slaves of the Most Merciful are those…”who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the jahil address them (with bad words) they reply with mild words of gentleness.” [Surah Furqan 25:63]

Our role should be to carry dawah, as Allah commands:

“Call to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and a good admonition, and debate with them in a manner that is good.” [Surah al-Nahl 16:125]

In Summary:

This is our sincere advice. The Muslim who holds fast to their Deen with sincerity and steadfastness at such difficult times can look to Allah ‘Azza wa Jall to help them.

However, our sincere advice to anyone who deviates from their Deen – who does actions of any nature, whether political or physical, that contradict the Shari’ah of Allah – whether driven by fear of others, or expectation of some short-term gain, or revenge, or any other reason – cannot expect anything but humiliation.

But if they turn away, Say: “Allah is sufficient for me: there is no god but He: Upon Him is my trust, and He the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme!” [Surah At-Tauba 9:129]

Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain

13th Rajab 1434
23rd May 2013

What leads to such a negative view of Islam and Muslims?

The question must be asked as to why such hatred exists towards Muslim women such that even children as young as 8 feel the need to attack them? To understand this first needs us to look at the way Muslims are viewed across society. The 2012 report Race and Reform: Islam and Muslims in the British Media submitted to the Leveson Inquiry described the portrayal of Muslims in the media as “overwhelmingly negative, stereotypical, inaccurate – and racist”. Even a superficial look at the stories about Islam and Muslims which dominate the mainstream media, reveals the fact that Muslims and Islam are consistently portrayed as being violent, oppressive to women and non-Muslims, and a threat to British and Western society. Sensationalist headlines such as, “Boston attacks reignite debate on Islam and terror” (BBC, April 2013), or “University campuses are ‘hotbeds of Islamic extremism’” (Telegraph, April 2011); or programmes such as Dispatches which in 2011 accused certain Muslim institutions as being full of hate for wider society; or even recent coverage of the Oxford grooming ring case by some sectors of the media that tried to imply that an inherent problem exists within the Muslim community and their culture which played a part in this crime – all portray a specific image of Muslims across the board.  These negative images, stories, programmes, and headlines are accompanied by frequent statements by Western politicians attacking Islam, the Shariah laws, or even the Muslim community which further scaremonger, fuel hatred, and increase the atmosphere of intimidation of Muslims. In 2009, Jim Fitzpatrick, UK Farming minister at the time attacked the concept of segregation of men and women in Islamic weddings, linking the practice to ‘extremism’. In 2011, Jack Straw attacked men from the Pakistani community for having a ‘specific problem’ in the way they viewed white girls, suggesting that this was the cause for the sexual abuse of teenage girls by a grooming ring in Derby. This narrative was replicated by Sayeeda Warsi, former Tory party co-chairman who in response to the Rochdale grooming ring case claimed that some Pakistani men see white girls as ‘fair game’. It is only inevitable then that such a stereotype of Muslims shapes the view that the wider society holds about them; leading people including even children to see them as enemies in their society.

This is alongside the labelling of those Muslims fighting against Western and foreign occupation or colonialism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir, Pakistan, Mali, Somalia and Palestine as terrorists, as well as the consistent demonization of those struggling for Islamic rule under the Khilafah state as we see in Syria and other countries as extremist and linking them to violence and terrorism and hence a threat to the UK. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said recently “There is enough uncontested space in Syria for some violent Islamist groups to provide extensive training. This is particularly concerning as we assess some of the individuals being trained will seek to carry out attacks against Western interests in the region or in Western states, now or in the future.”

This has resulted in creating a climate of hysteria and fear towards Muslims and Islam in the UK, whereby Muslim women have become frontline targets of the racist and Islamophobic attacks. Their crime in the face of the attacker is that their hijab, jilbab, or niqab directly identify them as Muslim.

Western Foreign Policy is Fuelling Islamophobia

Ultimately such demonization of Islam and Muslims by the British political establishment has one main purpose for the UK and other Western Governments and that is to justify their foreign policy of interference or wars in the Muslim world as in Iraq, Afghanistan, Mali or Somalia which is aimed at securing their economic interests

and to prevent the establishment of Islamic rule in the region in the form of the Khilafah state. This state, based on the Laws of Allah (swt) alone would not be subservient to any foreign power and would bring an end to the regimes and systems in the Muslim world that serve the interests of Western states, establishing in their place a leadership that sincerely serves the people. The Khilafah would also end Western hegemony and control over the oil, gas and other resources of our Muslim lands and ensure that these are utilized instead for the benefit of the citizens of the state. The establishment of the Khilafah would therefore threaten the UK government’s financial, political, and strategic interests in the region. Hence the demonization of Islam and Muslims is used by Western governments to legitimize to their people the presence of their troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and hence ensure continued public support for their destructive meddling, occupation and wars in the Muslim world, aimed in large part to ensure that the Khilafah does not materialize.

How Should We Respond to this Growing Islamophobia?

Within this climate where Islamophobic attitudes constantly bombard the British public from the UK mainstream media and politicians alike, it is therefore hardly surprising that according to the Race and Reform report above, 75 per cent of non-Muslims believe Islam is negative for Britain, and 63 per cent don’t disagree that “Muslims are terrorists.” In light of these shocking statistics, how should we as Muslim women in Britain respond to this growing Islamophobic climate and racially motivated attacks?

(1)   As Muslim women, to even walk down our local high street can become a frightening affair due to the abuse we may face but this fear should never cause us to compromise our deen. Rather we must continue to hold on to our Islamic beliefs and abide by our Islamic obligations, including adhering to our hijab just as the Prophet(saw), his companions, and the early believers in Makkah held onto their deen despite facing severe persecution at the hands of the Quraysh. We should remind ourselves of the actions of the first martyr of Islam Sumayyah (ra), who endured unbearable torture for being a Muslim but never once renounced her Islam, preferring death rather than compromising her Islamic belief. Thus we must be courageous in this difficult climate. Allah (swt) says, “It is only Shaytan that suggests to you the fear of his Auliya’ (supporters and friends (disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger, Muhammad(saw))) so fear them not, but fear Me, if you are (true) believers.” [TMQ Al-Imran: 175]

(2)   We must defend Islam and speak out when Islam and Muslims are attacked and not allow the media or politicians to insult or spread lies about our deen without responding. We should also expose the real intentions behind the negative media propaganda and statements of politicians against Islam and show that it is Western foreign policy through its economically-driven wars, support of dictatorships, and robbing of the resources of the Muslim world that has caused instability and insecurity in the region and beyond.

(3)   We must carry the Islamic dawa to our non-Muslim colleagues and contacts, to explain the truth of Islam, its sublime values and laws, and the great qualities of our beloved Prophet(saw). In addition, we need to counter the lies and misconceptions about our deen including on issues such as the Shariah laws, the position and role of women in Islam, the Islamic dress code, and the system of Allah – the Khilafah, and highlight Islam as an alternative way of life that has solutions for problems faced even in the West.

Indeed, holding onto Islam, defending it when it is attacked, and carrying the Islamic dawa to those around us may seem like a very difficult task within this environment that we live that is hostile towards Islam but we should remember the words of our beloved Prophet(saw) who said, “There will come a time when holding onto your Iman will be like holding onto hot coal” (Tirmidhi). In addition, we should remind ourselves of the great rewards in Jannah that await those believers who keep steadfast in their deen, no matter the hardships they face. Allah (swt) says,

“Verily, those who say, ‘Our Rabb(Lord) is (only) Allah and thereafter stand firm and straight (on the Islamic belief) on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. Such shall be the dwellers of Jannah(paradise), abiding therein (forever), a reward for what they used to do.” [TMQ Al-Ahqaf: 13-14]

Women of Hizb ut Tahrir Britain

Amanda Hulme, head of Claypool Primary School, Bolton, also criticised reality TV shows such as Britain’s Got Talent which recently aired a performance of a song featuring explicit lyrics to a mass audience.

In a speech to the National Association of Head Teachers’ annual conference in Birmingham, she said she was “genuinely concerned” that childhood was being cut short.

A recent survey found that childhood now ends at age 12 but she said: “I would suggest that it’s even lower than that for some children.”

She added: “The toxic combination of sophisticated marketing, the media ratings war and added peer pressure linked to social media, means that not only are out children being put under pressure to conform to idealistic nonsense but they are also being subjected to adult themes at a much younger age.”

Addressing delegates, Mrs Hulme said “completely inappropriate” adult themes have been shown on TV before the 9pm watershed over the last 12 months which no person “with an ounce of morality” would want their child to see.

She said the media were introducing “themes to our children that are completely inappropriate – rape, murder, domestic abuse, child abuse, self-harming, bulimia, alcoholism, prostitution, drug abuse – all on television in the last 12 months and all before the watershed.

“Surely an easy way to judge if a theme is appropriate would be to ask the question: ‘Is this something I would like my child to know about?’,” she said.

“I can guarantee that any person with an ounce of morality would reply no to all of the above.”

Mrs Hulme rounded on Britain’s Got Talent – shown to a primetime Saturday night audience on ITV1.

She questioned the wisdom of allowing a woman on television “at 8.10pm” last week to sing a song which she claimed featured the chorus “kiss my arse”.

“The producers of Britain’s Got Talent obviously think it’s ok! They made a conscious decision to air that performance before the watershed last Saturday,” she said.

In the episode, a 71-year-old singer, Sandra Broadbent from Rochdale, who performs under the name Kelly Fox, sang the track Kiss My Ass Baby although she tempered the expletives from the original song.

The show has previously been accused of featuring inappropriate material with earlier editions of this series including an 11-year-old singing about a one-night stand and a lap-dancing performance.

Mrs Hulme said: “The pace of modern life is fast enough and there’s plenty of time to be an adult and I don’t want our children to stop being children too soon.”

Delegates at the conference passed a resolution which called for the union to work with the Government and parents to ensure that childhood is “valued in its own right” and to highlight the detrimental effect that exposure to adult themes before the watershed has on children.

The Telegraph

This shared history with the Assad regime is relevant when considering Israel’s strategy toward the ongoing civil war in Syria. Israel’s most significant strategic goal with respect to Syria has always been a stable peace, and that is not something that the current civil war has changed. Israel will intervene in Syria when it deems it necessary; last week’s attacks testify to that resolve. But it is no accident that those strikes were focused solely on the destruction of weapons depots, and that Israel has given no indication of wanting to intervene any further. Jerusalem, ultimately, has little interest in actively hastening the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Israel knows one important thing about the Assads: for the past 40 years, they have managed to preserve some form of calm along the border. Technically, the two countries have always been at war — Syria has yet to officially recognize Israel — but Israel has been able to count on the governments of Hafez and Bashar Assad to enforce the Separation of Forces Agreement from 1974, in which both sides agreed to a cease-fire in the Golan Heights, the disputed vantage point along their shared border. Indeed, even when Israeli and Syrian forces were briefly locked in fierce fighting in 1982 during Lebanon’s civil war, the border remained quiet.

Israel does not feel as confident, though, about the parties to the current conflict, and with good reason. On the one hand, there are the rebel forces, some of whom are increasingly under the sway of al Qaeda. On the other, there are the Syrian government’s military forces, which are still under Assad’s command, but are ever more dependent on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, which is also Iranian-sponsored. Iran is the only outside state with boots on the ground in Syria, and although it is supporting Assad, it is also pressuring his government to more closely serve Iran’s goals — including by allowing the passage of advanced arms from Syria into southern Lebanon. The recent visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Salehi to Damascus, during which he announced that Iran would not allow Assad to fall under any circumstances, further underscored the depth of Iran’s involvement in the fighting. It is entirely conceivable, in other words, that a post-Assad regime in Syria would be explicitly pro–al Qaeda or even more openly pro-Iran. Either result would be unacceptable to Israel.

Of course, an extended civil war in Syria does not serve Israel’s interests either. The ongoing chaos is attracting Islamists from elsewhere in the region, and threatening to destabilize Israel’s entire neighborhood, including Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. It could also cause Assad to lose control of — or decide to rely more on — his stockpile of chemical weapons.

Even though these problems have a direct impact on Israel, the Israeli government believes that it should deal with them in a way that does not force it to become a kingmaker over Assad’s fate. Instead, it would prefer to maintain neutrality in Syria’s civil war. Israel does not want to tempt Assad to target Israel with his missile stockpile — nor does it want to alienate the Alawite community that will remain on Israel’s border regardless of the outcome of Syria’s war.

Last week’s attacks were a case in point. Israel did not hesitate to order air strikes when it had intelligence that arms were going to be funneled from Syria to Hezbollah. Although Israel took care not to assume official responsibility for the specific attack, Minister of Defense Moshe Yaalon publicly stated that Israel’s policy was to prevent the passage of strategic weaponry from Syria to Lebanon. But parallel with that messaging, Israel also made overt and covert efforts to communicate to Assad that Jerusalem was determined to remain neutral in Syria’s civil war. The fact that those messages were received in Damascus was reflected in the relatively restrained response from the Assad regime: a mid-level Foreign Ministry official offered a public denouncement of Israel — and even then the Syrian government offered only a vague promise of reprisal, vowing to respond at a time and in a manner of its choosing.

As brutal as the Syrian war has become, Israel believes that another international crisis is even more urgent: Iran’s continued pursuit of a nuclear program. Jerusalem has long believed that mid-2013 would be an hour of decision in its dealings with Iran. In the interim, Israel wants to focus its own finite resources on that crisis — and it would prefer that the rest of the world does the same.

That is not to say that Israel will make efforts to actively support Assad; like most other countries, Israel believes that it is only a matter of time until the Syrian leader is forced from power. But a country of Israel’s size needs to prioritize its foreign policy goals, and Jerusalem does not feel like helping shape an adequate alternative to Assad is in its interest or within its capacity. It will leave that task to others. Indeed, Israel has welcomed the initiative by Russia and the United States to organize a peace conference aimed at resolving the conflict. In the run-up to the conference, Jerusalem will be sure to remind both Washington and Moscow that they share an interest in preventing a permanent Iranian or jihadist presence on Syrian soil.

In that sense, it is safe to say that Assad is not the only recipient of covert communications from Israel. That leaves two questions — when the White House will decide what its own policy will be, and how it will implement it.

Foreign Affairs

The latest case, where a gang systematically grooming and sexually exploiting young women (some of whom were in care) has followed news about Jimmy Savile, Stuart Hall, a host of TV personalities and numerous other cases.

Some in the media seem fixated by the racial aspect of the most recent case. Their fixation is despite information from Greater Manchester Police, in whose area the earlier Rochdale grooming offences took place, which said only 5% of the men on its sex offenders register are of an Asian background. Similarly Wendy Shepherd, child sexual exploitation project manager with Barnardo’s in the north of England, countered the racial myth, saying that most abusers are white.

People have heard of Stuart Hazell, convicted of sexually assaulting and then killing his partner’s 12-year old granddaughter, Tia Sharp.

This is a UK-wide problem – not confined to B-list celebrities and Asian gangs.

There have been cases of young women exploited by professional footballers and young boys abused by Catholic priests.

The case of Ariel Castro in the USA who kept three women as sexual slaves for ten years sadly illustrates that the problem is one deeply engrained in Western secular society – not confined to the UK.

But why would anyone be surprised?

One only has to hear workplace banter amongst a group of men, or locker room chat, or look at the legal phenomena that are lad’s mags or lap-dancing clubs to realise there is something profoundly rotten at the heart of society.

This is a society where women are forced to campaign to end the institution of ‘Page-3’; or where female students at Cambridge University have to campaign to end so-called entertainment that encourages women to demean themselves for the sport of male students. One student old the student newspaper “This particular event is not ‘just a bit of fun’. To use that tired excuse is to ignore the huge number of women who have contacted me to tell me how personally degraded, devalued and marginalised even the idea of this has made them feel.”

It is no good simply saying the police and social services have failed.

It is society that has collectively failed to protect its young from sexual exploitation.

Anyone who thinks this is an exaggeration, should ask why it is in Oxfordshire, Rochdale or the grimy corridors of the BBC, that vulnerable young women were so easily bought off with drink, drugs and flattery.

What has society done to the self-esteem of generations of young women that means they can be abused like this?

It is a society that allows women to be exploited sexually in the media, in advertising and in all walks of life – in the name of freedom but with a profit aim.

Some strands of Western society have become so extreme and deranged that when young Muslim men and women want to separate sexes in collective gatherings and social functions, they are labelled as ‘extreme’ and ‘backwards’.

When they follow the teachings of Islam – to lower the gaze, protect their modesty and chastity, cover their bodies, and stay away from free mixing of the sexes – some see them as a problem community rather than a model of decency.

When they explain the place of Islamic punishments for proven adultery and fornication in an Islamic state, they are seen as worthy as banning from speaking on public platforms.

Ask any ordinary man or woman whether the Oxford sex gang, Jimmy Savile or Stuart Hazell deserve a flogging (at the very least) and many will find a new found respect for the ability of Shari’ah law to prevent harms to young women more effectively than any weak sanction currently practiced in Britain today!

Human beings have sexual instincts.

You can, on a societal level, either fuel them through imagery on TV, magazines and the Web – or else minimise their agitation and channel them through the decent loving institution of marriage.

Human beings can either be encouraged to see themselves as individual agents, whose purpose in life is to please themselves – or as part of society, with duties towards others, and whose purpose in life is to please their Creator, and so live their lives as such.

Allah SWT says:

“Indeed, We created man in finest mould

Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low

Except for those who believe do right actions”

[Surah 95: 4-6]

The lesson for Muslims in Britain is that no one is safe from being integrated into the values of this secular liberal society unless they have taqwa of Allah and adhere to His rules of conduct and decency.

It is little wonder that when people hear about the noble Islamic values, the largest group that embrace them and accept Islam are young women.

More than ever Muslims in the UK need to see their role in Britain, to understand their Islam, secure Islamic values in our community, and to carry them to others.

“Indeed, Allah commands justice, and doing
good, and giving to relatives.

And He forbids indecency and doing wrong and tyranny.

He warns you so that hopefully you will pay heed”.

 [Surah 16:90]

The intoxication of ‘democratic elections’ once again has consumed vast swathes of Pakistani society, who desperately cling to vain hopes that these will be the ones which finally bring about the changes that are so clearly needed. This time it is different, they say, as they claim it is the first election in which power is to be transferred from one ‘democratically elected’ body to another.

However, wade through the hyperbole and emotion and it becomes all too clear that what we really have is the same tired, old Pakistani politics. Corruption, coercement and manipulation have become the hallmarks of the electoral process, and the elections of 2013 have not disappointed in this regard.

Whilst figures such as the 36 million new registered voters, or the 60% turnout seem to signify an electorate who are engaged with the process, they do not tell the whole story. Widespread claims of rigging, videos on youtube showing individuals filling in stacks of voting slips and the turnout figures of up to 300% in some polling stations make a mockery of this supposedly historic event. Corruption is endemic and institutional, reducing the whole process to a farcical game of ‘who can cheat the most?’

Pakistani elections as with Pakistani politics are dominated by land and wealth interests, where the poor suffering people are at best an afterthought. The various parties’ domination over areas of the country through ownership of feudal land and industry ensure that a large proportion of the electorate are effectively forced into block-voting for their landlord or employer. There is therefore no surprise to anyone when Sind votes in favour of the PPP, whilst the Punjab elects PML-N.

So the process was doomed to begin with, but what about the result? Does the newly elected Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party deserve a chance?

Nawaz Sharif’s family are owners of Ittefaq Group, a leading steel mill conglomerate. In 2005, Daily Pakistan reported that the Sharifs were the fourth wealthiest family in the country with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. This is where Sharif’s wealth and Pakistan’s colonialist land owning feudal system secured PML-N the countryside, where the majority of the population live.

Sharif has ruled Pakistan on two previous occasions, from 1990-93 and then in 1997-99, until he was overthrown in a coup by General Musharraf. In power Sharif’s governments were littered with scandal, corruption and incompetence. On the two previous occasions he led the government he virtually bankrupted the nation.

Whilst the country has been at the receiving end of daily US drone bombings, Sharif can barely muster up a word of condemnation. He has never claimed that he would stop them, only going as far as to claim that other options ‘need to be explored’.

PML –N’s clear victory appears odd given that Sharif’s Muslim League was fractured when he was exiled to Saudi Arabia for the best part of the last decade. Also the people are unlikely to have forgotten “industrialist” Sharif’s last tenure in government, which, when abruptly ended by the military coup, resulted in impromptu street celebrations. All the more surprising, given Sharif’s main business-orientated agenda was to end load shedding, is PML-N’s electoral victories in rural areas where virtually no campaigning was undertaken and many of the poor are not even connected to the national electricity grid.

It is clear that ‘democracy’, far from being the saviour of Pakistan, is in truth playing into the hands of those who seek to manipulate the country, its resources and its people to their own ends. It is a tool used by foreign agents to maintain their control, and used by wealthy elites such as Nawaz Sharif to hide their crimes against the people behind titles of public office. Only a complete break from this system will ever bring about true change, and free Pakistan at last from the political merry-go-round it has found itself caught in since birth.

This week, Stuart Hazell was convicted of the appalling crime of sexually assaulting and then killing his partner’s 12 year old granddaughter Tia Sharp. Over the past few weeks, other stories regarding the sexual abuse of children, young girls and women have also dominated the media. The history of mass abuse in children’s homes in North Wales, allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by teachers in English Specialist music schools, and admission of guilt in the abuse of girls by the sports presenter Stuart Hall has followed the huge continuing scandal involving the famous TV personality Jimmy Saville who has now been accused of abusing hundreds of girls and women during his time at the BBC. On the other side of the Atlantic, news also broke of the shocking case in Cleveland, America where Ariel Castro kept three women in captivity for ten years, raping and even fathering a child with one of them.

Alongside this has been the highly publicised case this week of the Muslim men who were convicted of sadistically abusing children and girls as young as 11 and 12 in a paedophile grooming ring in Oxford and forcing them into prostitution. This follows other high profile stories over the last two years of similar sexual grooming rings of vulnerable teenage girls in Shropshire, Derby and Rochdale operated by Pakistani and Muslim men. In response to these vile crimes, some sections of the UK media and particular politicians such as former home secretary Jack Straw, suggested that there was a racial or even religious cause to the abuse of white vulnerable girls that the Pakistani, Asian, and Muslim community need to recognise and address, attributing it to their so-called corrupt attitudes towards “white girls”. They blamed Pakistani and even Islamic culture. However, the Hazell, Saville, Hall and other cases cited above as well as the fact that in the UK almost a quarter of young adults have experienced sexual abuse in childhood (NSPCC, 2013) demonstrates that the sexual abuse of children, teenage girls, and young women is a widespread and rampant problem within secular liberal societies that affects all communities – black or white. The question that needs to be asked is why.

Why is Sexual Abuse so Rampant in Western societies?

(1)   The secular, liberal way of life defines the purpose of life as pursuing the maximum enjoyments of the here and now and living life to the max. Happiness is therefore viewed as fulfilling sensual pleasures and actions are decided based upon the desires of individuals. Consequently, personal whims become the basis of deciding right, and wrong. Essentially this means that every individual in society is free to dress and pursue any relationship they wish and decide for themselves how to satisfy their sexual instinct in whatever way is pleasurable to them.  Securing liberal freedoms such as personal and sexual freedom is therefore set as the priority of liberal societies up and above family and community wellbeing.  All this nurtures a dangerous environment within society.

(2)   This harmful view towards the satisfaction of the sexual instinct has ramifications on society. Open relationships, promiscuity, and the sexualisation of men and women in advertisement, films, TV, music, magazines, books, pornography, and the beauty industry has become the norm in the UK and other secular liberal states. Even children have been sexualised – their clothes, music they listen to, the TV shows they watch, and even the computer games and toys they play with have become increasingly sexually provocative.

(3)   Within such a society where the sexual instinct is constantly urged and triggered, and the mindset of satisfying desires dominates over the mindset of doing what is right, it is inevitable that many men and women will seek to fulfil their sexual desires in any manner they see fit and through whatever means that is available to them if they feel that they can get away with it, even if that means abusing children, or vulnerable young girls and women.

(4)   In addition, under the Capitalist system as implemented in the UK, US, and most secular liberal states, the pursuit of profit reigns supreme. Consequently businesses are permitted to encourage the sexualisation of society in order to increase sales, regardless of the detrimental impact on individuals and society. For example, although David Cameron has talked a lot about the harmful effects of the sexualisation of children, the UK government has not banned the sexualisation of children’s clothes or entertainment, choosing to secure profit over the welfare of children. And despite 1 in 5 women being victims of a sexual offence in the UK, there has been no ban on the exploitation, objectification, and sexualisation of women in advertisement and the media that devalues their status and hence exacerbates sexual crimes against them, for capitalism places financial gain over protecting the dignity of women. Indeed, it is the degrading of women and girls for profit that creates an environment that is ripe for the exploitation of children, girls and women in trafficking, prostitution and grooming rings.

It is all this that fuels sexual abuse.

Islam Holds the Solution to Sexual Abuse

(1)    In stark contrast to the secular, liberal way of life, Islam defines the purpose of life as worshipping Allah(swt). Hence its view of happiness is to seek Allah(swt)’s Pleasure and not to satisfy carnal desires. Actions are not based upon pursuing individual whims but upon abiding by the Commands and Prohibitions of the Creator. Thus there is no sexual freedom in Islam that allows people to fulfil their desires however they please, rather Islam sets down firm guidelines on how to view the opposite sex and what type of relationships are permitted. Even with regards to the view of the woman, Islam does not allow men to view them as they wish but obliges that they be viewed and treated with dignity always. The Prophet(saw) said, “None but a noble man treats women in an honourable manner, and none but an ignorant treats women disgracefully”. In addition, taqwa (God-consciousness) nurtures a mindset of accountability to Allah(swt) that understands that every action has reward or punishment in the Akhirah (Hereafter), ensuring that the Muslim adheres to His(swt)’s Limits and Rules, and maintains an upright, moral behaviour regardless of who is watching. This aids the creation of a safe society.

(2)   Islamic laws organise society based on what is best for the security and wellbeing of children, family life, and the community overall rather than securing individual freedoms and desires. In doing so it seeks to guarantee the basic rights of every child, woman, and man in that society to live within a safe environment where crime is minimised, their dignity protected always, and hence where they are free from fear of harassment or abuse. Therefore the sexual instinct is not allowed to run havoc and is channelled in a way that ensures it does not become the number one issue on people’s minds across society. So free-relationships are rejected, fornication and adultery prohibited, and no sexualisation of women, children, or any aspect of society is allowed that agitates the sexual instinct in public life, again protecting children, women, and the vulnerable from abuse.

(3)   Islam has a detailed and comprehensive social system of laws that regulate the relationship between men and women and channel the triggering and fulfilment of the sexual desires to marriage alone. These laws include the Islamic dress code that minimises the allure of men and women, the lowering of the gaze when there is attraction, and the prohibition of the beautification of the woman in public life or socialising of unrelated men and women that reduces the agitation of the sexual instinct. Thus the sexual instinct is not suppressed but nor is it let loose within society that exacerbates sexual abuse, trafficking, and paedophile grooming rings. Rather it is directed and fulfilled in a way that is beneficial to individuals and society through ensuring the integrity of the family unit is maintained, and the rights of women and men within a relationship, and the children they bear are protected. In addition, Islam has prescribed harsh judicial laws to safeguard these values and laws, and hence protect individuals and society by preventing the loose fulfilment of the sexual desire outside of marriage.

(4)   Finally, since Islam is not driven or dominated by financial gain but what is best for humanity and society, it does not allow profit to dictate and allow the sexualisation of women, children, or society but rather ensures that the morals, rights of children, unity of family life, security of women and other important values of society are protected. Hence it outright prohibits the objectification, exploitation, and devaluing of women in any field of life, ensuring that their high status and dignity is maintained at all times.

All this minimises sexual abuse and the exploitation of children, teenage girls, and women and creates a society where they do not live in fear but in security. However, this can only come to life comprehensively under the Khilafah system of ruling that implements all the laws of Islam upon a state.

As Muslim women in the West, we must understand that it is through rejecting the Western secular liberal values, lifestyle and culture, and nurturing the Islamic values, obligations and rules within our Muslim youth and community that alone holds the remedy to addressing the problem of promiscuity, sexual abuse, and the exploitation of girls and women that affects some within our community. However, we also have a great responsibility to explain to our non-Muslim contacts, colleagues, and neighbours the harmful consequences of the secular liberal way of life upon women, children, and society, and alongside this to present them with the light of Islam, its values and laws as a solution to the many societal problems they face, including that of the vile crime of sexual abuse. Allah (swt) says,

“If the truth had been in accord with their desires, truly the heavens and the earth and all beings therein would have been in confusion and corruption! Nay we have sent them their admonition but they turn away from their admonition.” [TMQ Al-Mu’minun:71]

Women of Hizb ut Tahrir Britain