Muslim leaders have decided to condemn sexual grooming after the conviction of a seven man sex ring from Oxford on Thursday.
Imams of around 500 mosques across Britain will deliver khutbahs to congregations during today’s Jumu’ah prayers condemning the sexual grooming of children.
The sermon will be delivered in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali to thousands of worshippers across the country to raise awareness in light of recent convictions of high-profile Asian grooming gangs.
Organisers Together Against Grooming (TAG) said the sermon will highlight how the Qur’an emphasises that Muslims must protect children and the vulnerable. TAG is a non-profit organisation established to tackle sexual grooming in Britain.
The sermon was supported by Muslim organisations including the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) and the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) who have promised to deliver sermons on the issue of sexual grooming.
Khutbah
The khutbah written by Imam Alyas Karmani from Keighley, West Yorkshire opens with a quotation from the Qur’an forbidding “sexual indecency, wickedness and oppression of others” and refers to grooming as “disgraceful actions” which must be wholeheartedly condemned. The sermon concludes with a call for action and reminds Muslims to speak out if they see any “evil action”.
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Mr Karmani said: “There’s a profound disrespect culture when it comes to treating women. One of the reasons we feel this is the case is poor role models.
“Access to pornography on the internet via websites similar to watch my gf is so easy nowadays as nearly every household has a device like a laptop, pc, tablet or smartphone that can connect to the internet, and some of this pornography also objectifies women, it is creating a culture where men are now ambiguous when it comes to the issue of violence against women.”
Mr Karmani said the sermon was being circulated in an effort to counter what he claimed was a taboo in mosques against talking about sex.
Grooming gangs
TAG spokesman, Ansar Ali said the sermon is the first step of a “hard-hitting” campaign as a result of a number of high-profile child grooming cases involving Asian Muslim men in Bradford, Oxford, Rochdale and Telford. He said: “We have been horrified by the details that have emerged from recent court cases and, as Muslims, we feel a natural responsibility to condemn and tackle this crime.
“While sexual grooming and child abuse affected all sections of society and was perpetrated by people of all ethnic groups, the Qur’an exhorted Muslims to act against evil and injustice and create just societies.
“We are united in our stand against sexual grooming and, as Muslims, we are leading the effort to rid society of this crime.”
Whilst TAG, MCB, MINAB and ISB have vowed to condemn sexual grooming, many have questioned the necessity to apologise and condemn something that the Muslim community or Islam is not responsible for.
When 5 Pillarz spoke to local residents from the Cowley area of Oxford in regards to sexual grooming of children, they made it very clear that Islam and Muslims had nothing to do with such actions. Some even suggested that political pressure would make Muslims feel responsible for crimes that have nothing to do with their religion.
Many Muslims have also argued that when the Jimmy Savile abuses became public, white Christians were not pressured to condemn his crimes and the same for Roman Catholics who did not have to apologise for the sexual abuse that some priests were carrying out for decades. Others have suggested western values and the depiction of women as objects of sexual pleasure in the media, popular entertainment shows and marketing as the root cause, not Islam.
Yesterday seven men who sexually abused vulnerable girls as young as 12 were given heavy sentences. Five of the seven offenders including two pairs of brothers were jailed for life at the Old Bailey. Two of the men were of east African origin and five of Pakistani origin.
