Muslim Grooming Gangs

Khutbah: 'Muslim' Grooming Gangs

Shaykh Zahir Mahmood | 26th October 2018

Opening

Salatu wa salamu ala sayyidi al-mursaleen mawlana Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man tabi'ahum bi ihsan ila yawm al-deen wa ba'd

Translation: Prayers and peace be upon the master of the messengers, our master Muhammad, and upon his family and companions and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment, and thereafter.

Main Khutbah

Brothers, Elders, Sisters, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

I thought today I'd touch on a topic which has been kind of lurking within our community for a while. At the outset, I want to make something very clear - the endeavor here is not to trivialize the suffering or the torment of anybody. The topic is the grooming gangs, the so-called Muslim grooming gangs. Obviously these girls have been through horrific abuse and exploitation.

But what I want to do is put a narrative straight, and the narrative is very important: Does Islam actually have anything to do with these grooming gangs? Because often we hear that they are called Muslim grooming gangs, occasionally they're called Asian grooming gangs. This is exploited by people to their own ends. The right wing, the far right will say: "Look, see the Muslims are a problem. The Muslims won't integrate, and because they won't integrate we have all these issues with the Muslim community." Therefore it leads to other things.

The Religious Perspective on These Crimes

What were these individuals - Pakistani, Asian, Bengali, Indian, Afghan, whatever background they came from - what were they accused of? They were accused of exploitation, abuse, plying these girls with alcohol and drugs, illicit relationships, rape, and at times even pimping.

As Muslims, what we would say is that every single one of these things is a crime within our religion. If it's a crime within our religion, then how can this have anything to do with our religion?

On Abuse and Exploitation

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said in a narration related by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad:

(Musnad Ahmad)

"The dua of an oppressed person, even if he is a disbeliever, reaches Allah and there is no veil between that dua and Allah."

The interesting thing in this narration is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said "wa law kana kafiran" - even if that person is a disbeliever. But the person is exploited, the person is oppressed. When they make a dua to Allah, they may not even believe in Allah, but Allah accepts that dua. So how can this have anything to do with our religion?

Imam Bukhari has related a narration that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was sitting down and a janaza (funeral procession) went past. The Prophet (peace be upon him) stood up for the janaza. The Sahaba said: "O Messenger of Allah, that's not the janaza of a Muslim. That's the janaza of a Jew. Why are you standing up?" The Messenger of Allah said:

Alaysa nafsan

Translation: "Isn't that a soul as well? Isn't that a human being as well?"

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

La yarhamu Allah man la yarhamu an-nas

Translation: "Allah will not show mercy to those who do not show mercy to people."

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The words that the Messenger of Allah said - he didn't say the person who shows mercy to another Muslim. He said "an-nas" - Muslims or non-Muslims, everybody. Every single individual, if you do not show that person mercy in this dunya, then on the Day of Judgment when the entirety of humanity will be there, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said Allah will not show you mercy.

So abuse and exploitation has nothing to do with our religion.

On Intoxicants

The Messenger of Allah said about intoxicants regarding khamr (alcohol):

Inna al-khamra ummu al-khaba'ith

Translation: "Indeed, alcohol is the mother of all evils."

Because when a person is intoxicated, he'll do things that he never would do before. How many women get battered at home because of the fact that the husband is intoxicated? How many crimes are perpetrated because a person is intoxicated? The Messenger of Allah called it the mother of all evil.

The amazing thing about this religion is that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was the only man in history who managed to eradicate alcohol from his community. No man before him, no man after the Prophet (peace be upon him) managed to do this. So how can you say that this has anything to do with our religion?

The Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't just curse the person who drinks alcohol - the Messenger of Allah cursed ten people who are involved in alcohol. So what about when you're distributing it to other people? It's haram within our religion.

On Illicit Relationships

Allah says in the Quran:

Wa la taqrabu az-zina innahu kana fahishatan wa sa'a sabilan

Translation: "And do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. Indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way."

Allah doesn't say don't commit zina - Allah says do not even come close to zina. Meaning anything which is a means of you doing zina - touching, looking, talking which can possibly lead you to committing zina - the deen of Allah makes it haram.

So then how can any of these things have anything to do with our religion? There is no connection.

The Double Standard

The irony is this: On one front you will say to us Muslims, "You're too sexually conservative. You don't shake hands with the opposite gender. Men don't shake hands with women, women don't shake hands with men. You don't even allow a peck on the cheek or a little hug. Your women won't wear bikinis." That's on one front - you say you're too sexually conservative.

On the other front, when it suits you, you know, "You are hyper-sexualized beasts," and both of them originate from your religion. Both of them. "You will rape, you will have illicit relationships in the name of Islam," and on the other front, "You won't even shake hands with the opposite gender, and that's also propelled by your religion."

Listen, you can't have it both ways. Make up your mind. This is the kind of predicament that Muslims are always in - it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. In reality, we don't give a damn what you think because we know what the reality is.

The Rotherham Scandal and Cultural Sensitivities

After the Rotherham scandal, one of the things which was really interesting - what they said was: "Oh, you know why the police and the social workers and the council didn't bring it up? It's because we were taking into considerable consideration cultural sensitivities. We didn't want to be known as racists. We didn't want to be known as Islamophobes. So this is why we knew it was going on, but because the perpetrators were Muslims and because they were Asians, we didn't really want to make a big issue out of it."

This one really made me laugh. Whenever you get something wrong, you deflect the responsibility onto the minorities, and today onto the Muslims. "What, you were concerned about our cultural sensitivities?" We are the very same people - for every positive media report on the Muslims, we have 27 which are negative (Lancaster University). It's 75% less chance of us getting a job compared to our white counterpart (Bristol University). Whenever your politicians have a bad day and they want cheap political votes, what do they say? They start cussing the Muslims. Your institutions, Ofsted and others, are politicized against the Muslims. On every single front you're happy to blame us for everything, and then on the other hand when it suits you, you say: "Oh no, we didn't want to make it a scandal. We didn't want to... We knew the police say we knew they were Muslims and they were Asians, but we were taking into consideration cultural sensitivities."

Now if that is the case, listen to this: When some of these cases were pedophiles, some of them were rape, some of them were pimping - when did cultural sensitivities ever stop you from stopping a rapist from doing what he's doing, a pedophile from doing what he was doing?

The Statistics

Dr. Jay did a report. She gave 14 recommendations - 14 recommendations. All of them were to do with the institutions: the police, the council, the social services. Not one of them was to do with race.

When you read the reports in the media, you think that it's only Muslims doing it. Only Muslim gangs are out there. It's only the Muslims who are pedophiles. They're the ones who exploit white girls. Firstly, Dr. Jay mentioned that it wasn't just white girls. They were exploiting Asian girls as well, but there's a taboo within the community. She says we will never know how many Asian girls were exploited, but they were exploited because there's a taboo in the community and they will not come out and say it openly.

But everybody remembers the Rotherham and the Rochdale media pieces: "Muslim grooming gangs," "Asian grooming gangs." The Independent came out with a headline the next day: "We need a national debate on Muslim grooming."

Let me tell you the statistics of the grooming offenders in Rotherham:

• 68% were white
• 24% were Asian
• 8% were of mixed heritage
• 3% were female

This is still a high proportion for the Asians, but not one news media picked up upon this report. Not one. Why? Because you have an agenda to frame the Muslims.

Have you ever heard of a Christian grooming gang? Have they ever mentioned Christian grooming gangs? Never. Have I ever seen "Christian pedophile," "white pedophile"? But you see "Asian pedophiles," "Muslim pedophiles." Why do you bring the religion into it?

68% - I remember reading reports where it seemed like every single pedophile in Rotherham was a Muslim. The vast majority of pedophilia is done one-on-one, not grooming gangs - one-on-one. The vast majority of victims are one-on-one.

The white community in this country is approximately 86%. The Crown Prosecution recorded that 80 to 90 percent of the pedophiles are actually white - 80 to 90%. Why is there no public outcry? Why are we not having national debates on the fact that there's a problem within the white community? Because I don't believe there's a problem. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If you want to demonize the Muslim community that there are a bunch of pedophiles, that it's got something to do with our religion, then let's have this national debate.

The Home Secretary's Tweet

This is the problem with the Muslim community - you actually begin internalizing, you actually begin to believe what's being said every day. You have these reports of "Muslim pedophile gangs," "Muslims doing this," "Muslims perpetrating this" - it has nothing to do with our religion.

I'll tell you where the problem lies, and I am NOT exonerating anybody: The problem lies with men. The vast majority of people - literally all pedophiles are men. Literally all. Not because they're Muslim, not because they're white, but because of the way they perceive children. And with the Asians, and generally not just the Asians specifically, it's the way you treat and perceive women. Because the way that you perceive women then justifies it for you. For others, it's the way you perceive children and it justifies you. But why is there no national call on this? Why is it always an issue when it's Muslim?

So we have this guy, this Home Secretary, Sajid Javid. Let me read his tweet after the Huddersfield arrest:

"These sick Asian pedophiles are finally facing justice. I want to commend the bravery of the victims."

What has Asian got to do with it? And I honestly believe that this guy would have possibly mentioned Muslim, but because the ringleader was a Sikh, he couldn't mention that the rest were Muslims. But he mentioned "these sick Asian." Why are you racializing it?

Let me just give you a bit of background regarding Sajid Javid. Sajid Javid is our Home Secretary, Conservative Party cabinet member. All his early political life, he tried to distance himself from the Muslim community. So when he was asked, he said: "I was born from Pakistani Muslim heritage. I was brought up believing in God, but in my practice, I don't practice any religion." Now it's a strong possibility - when he said "I don't practice any religion," normally you would say "I don't practice Islam," "I don't practice my religion." So "I don't practice any religion" - he said: "Well, my wife is a practicing Christian, and the only religion in my house which is practiced is Christianity."

When he was asked what was your favorite place other than the UK where would you like to live, he said Israel. Israeli lobby strong. There have only been two Muslims ever in the cabinet in the Conservative cabinet: Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid. Sayeeda Warsi resigned because of the Palestinian issue, and this guy remained where he was because he loves Israel.

Then he comes out with this tweet. Listen to this: Then he says, "I want to commend the bravery of these victims." It's really interesting - when did this happen? All this grooming, all this pedophilia happened under your watch, your government's watch, your police institutions, your council institutions. The blame lies with you. Why are you passing the buck onto us?

Why then, why don't you ever tweet that 80 to 90 percent of pedophilia is committed by white people? Why? Because you're an Uncle Tom. And you know what Uncle Tom is - it's not a racial slur. Uncle Tom is he who will serve his political masters at the expense of his own community. All your life you said that you had nothing to do with Islam, you don't practice Islam. Then when the Grenfell Tower issue happened, the first time I saw him: "Oh yeah, I'm a Muslim," because the Muslims were afflicted now. You went to Pakistan all of a sudden when you reached where you wanted to reach. You refined your identity.

But listen to this: Then he goes at the end of his tweet: "Not on my watch. There will be no go areas. There will be no no-go areas."

"There is no god but Allah"

This is Fox News trash! You're the Home Secretary. You're meant to be looking after your people, the Home Secretary, and you're coming out with Fox News trash - no-go areas? Brother, brother, have you ever been to any of our areas? Show me, I challenge you, show me one no-go area within the Muslim community. Show me one.

Identity Politics and War

People play identity politics only at one time - when you have a crime and then you mention the ethnicity or the religion of those people, only when you want to criminalize those people. When you want to criminalize those people, that is the only time you will use it. They normally use identity politics at the time of war.

At the time of war, when you say "he's a Muslim," "it's a Muslim grooming gang," what you are saying is not - what you are saying is that these Muslims are the enemies of the wider community. They're not like

the rest. They can't integrate. They groom white girls. You're white girls, which is a lie in the first place, because if you look at pedophiles, the vast majority of pedophiles are white.

This is where identity politics lies. This is why people use identity politics. And as Muslims, we need to be a bit deeper than we are. We look at these things and we start feeling embarrassed.

To the Muslim Groomers

Finally, I want to address the issue with the Muslims, the Muslim groomers - not because Islam has anything to do with this, but because these people happen to be Muslims.

I say wallahi, I can't understand - let alone as a Muslim, let alone as a human being - how any human being could sink to this level. You ply these girls with alcohol, with drugs, you rape them, you pimp them, you have illicit relationships, and then you, the very same people, will go home to your daughters, to your sisters, to your wives, like you're some honorable individuals.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

"Oppression will be darkness on the Day of Judgment."

He said the zulm (oppression) that you perpetrate in this dunya, on the Day of Judgment it would be darknesses for you. You will see that it will be darkness - any zulm that you perpetrate.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah)

"O Allah, I will ensure that I enforce the rights of two weak people: the orphan and the woman."

Wallahi, the vast majority of these girls, if you see, they were vulnerable girls. They stayed in homes, had mental health problems, and by the time the degenerates finished with them, they were scarred for the rest of their life. Don't you have any daughters? Don't you have any sisters? Don't you have a mother?

When a young man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, give me permission to commit zina," the Messenger of Allah said: "Come closer." He said: "O my son, don't you have a mother?" He said yes. He said: "Would you like others to do zina with your mother? Don't you have a sister?" He said: "Would you like others to do zina with your sister?" Would you like anybody -

because wallahi, any of these girls could have been your daughter. Would you like anybody to apply drugs to your daughter, to give them drugs and then rape them?

The Messenger of Allah said: "I will look after the yateem (orphan) and the woman because they were the vulnerable in the community."

You all heard that hadith where the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke about that woman. He said that the woman deprived a cat. She locked up a cat, left the cat starving. She left it starving until the cat died. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said this woman is destined for the fire of Jahannam.

Why did the Messenger of Allah give the example of a cat? He could have given the example of another human being. Why? Because the Messenger of Allah wanted to show us that if this is the wrong that you do on a cat and Allah will give you Jahannam, then what about other human beings? What about other human beings?

It's sad that we even have to speak about these issues. You go home to your family, your children and your wife, and you have done this. And this is why, brothers and sisters, listen to me - and I'm not saying this because they want us to say this - it's an obligation. If we see a crime like this perpetrated against children, that we stop it or we inform the authorities.

The Messenger of Allah said:

(Sahih Muslim)

"Whoever among you sees a wrong action, let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart - and that is the weakest of iman."

If you are unable to stop it, then the next people who can stop it with their hands are the authorities. It's haram.

Allah defines us in the Quran:

"You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah."

You are the best of people taken out for who? Not for the Muslims, not for the Arabs. You know, I love this argument they keep presenting. They say that this is a Muslim problem, Muslim grooming gangs.

Then I ask you a question: If it's a Muslim grooming gang, then where are the Africans in the grooming gangs? If there's a Muslim problem, where are the Africans? Where are the Arabs? If Islam is the thing that propels these people, then where are the Arabs? Where are the Africans? Where are the Malaysians? Where are the Indonesians?

It's got nothing to do with Islam. I'll tell you where the only connection has got to do with Islam is: in the figment of your demented imagination. That's it. Nowhere else.

Conclusion

Therefore, brothers, Allah has defined this Ummah:

"You are the best of people taken out for the benefit of humanity." Humanity should see your khayr (goodness).

And we have people of our Ummah doing things like this. May Allah give us the tawfeeq to realize our purpose. May Allah guide these individuals. May Allah give us the ability to retain our glorious heritage.

Closing Dua:

"Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the next world, and save us from the punishment of the Fire."

"Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the next world, and save us from the punishment of the Fire."

And may Allah send prayers upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions.