• This article explores the assertion that “Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs” are an Islamic problem.
• It draws upon religious institutions and groups from other faiths who are grappling with this issue.
The UK grooming gangs scandal is being weaponised to malign Islam and Muslims without evidence, a corrosive narrative that has entrenched itself in public discourse, falsely cast as a national epidemic— a Muslim-Pakistani issue. This narrative, being spread insidiously, complimentary of a certain tech billionaire, distorts the facts and flames pejudice. Yet the reality is far more inconvenient for those Islamophobes peddling such rhetoric.
Statistical analysis dismantles the myth of a disproportionate link between these crimes, Islamic institutions, Muslims and British Pakistanis, exposing the intellectual dishonesty and moral cowardice underpinning these claims. Furthermore, while abuses within other faith groups are often committed under the guise of religious authority or within sacred institutions, the criminality of the Pakistani-Muslim gangs in places such as Rotherham, operates wholly outside a religious framework. These criminal acts arise from societal dysfunctions, issues with class and predatory behaviour— stemming from opportunism—there is of course absolutely no justification for the reprehensible actions of such vile predators. However, we shall re-visit this in the latter portion of this article. Furthermore, it must be emphasised that the actions of these animals, stand in stark contradiction to Islamic teachings, which unequivocally denounce exploitation and abuse and are robust in the guidelines for interactions between men and women outside of family relations and marriage.
This article deconstructs the hypocrisy of this narrative, exposing its foundations in prejudice, and draws upon other religious institutions and groups that truly grapple with this issue. It calls for a more principled, evidence-based approach to addressing exploitation of vulnerable children— one that priorities justice and the plight of the victims.
The Guardian article reads:
The report, which covers England, Scotland and Wales and summarises a range of studies on the issue of group-based child sexual exploitation (CSE), also known as grooming gangs, said there was not enough evidence to conclude that child sexual abuse gangs were disproportionately made up of Asian offenders.
High-profile cases including in Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford have involved groups of men of mainly Pakistani ethnicity, fuelling a perception that it is an “Asian problem”.
As the Office for National Statistics reports, White British people make up 83% of the population but represent 88% of perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Pakistanis, 2% of the population and 2% of offenders.
A defining characteristic of the “Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs” is the lack of religiosity of its members. These individuals engage in deplorable crimes that not only betray the core principles of Islam but are explicitly prohibited under Shariah. For instance, the oppression of another human being is a grave sin. In fact, according to Shari’ah, in the cases of Rotherham for instance, such actions would merit capital punishment. Far from embodying the ideals of Islam or serving as moral exemplars, these individuals are a stark contrast to the values upheld by Islam. They are neither paragons of religious virtue nor upstanding citizens, nor do they belong in the ranks of scholars, clerics or religious leaders. Moreover, in 2013, Imams across the country strongly condemned the actions of these individuals:
The 2013 BBC article reads as follows.
Organisers Together Against Grooming (TAG) said imams at hundreds of mosques had pledged to read the kuthba to congregations during Friday prayers.
The sermon highlighted how the Koran emphasised that Muslims must protect children and the vulnerable.
The policing minister Damian Green said it was a “very important" move.
"It reminds people that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority, of British Muslims, condemn child sexual abuse as strongly as any other group in modern Britain," he said.
Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam at Abu Bakr Mosque in Leicester, said: "People were troubled by us reading the sermon and one man asked me how he could stop it being read.
"He said it was not our fault this had happened, our religion does not teach us to do these things and we are condemning it.
It is remarkable that this issue is being highlighted, particularly when a pervasive epidemic of child sexual abuse continues to unfold on a colossal scale within other religious institutions.
The Catholic Church
The United States of America
More than 300 “predator priests” were found to have committed sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, harming more than 1,000 children, according to a grand jury report released by the state Supreme Court. The near-900-page report is the result of one of the largest US investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
France
Some 3,000 paedophiles have operated inside the French Catholic Church since 1950, the head of an independent commission investigating the scandal in 2021 said. The report stated there had been 10,000 victims.
Spain
The 2022 BBC article reads:
More than 200,000 children are estimated to have suffered sexual abuse from Spain's Catholic clergy. The ombudsman, who spoke of the "devastating impact" on victims. Angel Gabilondo also criticised the Church for its inaction and attempts to cover up or deny the abuse. "What has happened has been possible because of that silence," he said.
The 700-page report, which was ordered by Spain's Congress last year reveals the result of a survey that the commission carried out on 800,000 members of the public. It found that 0.6% of the country's adult population, roughly 39 million people, said that they had suffered sexual abuse as children by members of the clergy. That percentage rose to 1.13%, more than 400,000 people, when including alleged abuse by lay people in institutions overseen by the Church.
Australia
A report analysing sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Australia reads:
The report made with respect to Anglican Church institutions in Australia was also released by The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017. This report identified 569 alleged perpetrator….Of all alleged perpetrators, 94% were male, 247 were ordained clergy (43% of all known alleged perpetrators), and 285 were lay people (50% of all known alleged perpetrators). Victims were an average age of approximately 11 years and this did not vary for the gender of the complainant. The average time between the first alleged incident date and the date the complaint was received was 29 years (Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2017c).
The most comprehensive study of child sexual abuse in the US Catholic Church comes from an earlier study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which found that 4% of all priests who had served from 1950 to 2002 were subject to allegations of child sexual abuse (John Jay College, 2004, Terry, 2008, cited in Parkinson, 2014).
Did Lifelong Celibacy in the Catholic Priesthood Drive Child Sex Abuse?
Between Jan 1980 & Feb 2015, 4,444 individuals reported incidents of child sexual abuse within Australian Catholic churches.
In response, the Royal Commission posed a pivotal question: Could the tradition of celibacy have contributed to the high rates of sexual abuse in the Church?
It is crucial to distinguish that celibacy within the Catholic Church differs from the Islamic concept. Catholic priests take an oath to remain celibate for life, forgoing both marriage and sexual relations, while Islamic celibacy is a temporary commitment before marriage, not a lifelong vow. The Truth, Justice and Healing Council, advising the Australian Catholic Church, acknowledged in a report that “obligatory celibacy may have contributed to abuse in some circumstances’. However, this connection was not made by Catholic officials globally, and the tradition of celibacy—rooted in the 12th century—was swiftly dismissed by the Vatican. Yet a poll conducted at a Catholic university in Australia revealed that 70% of the 300 priests surveyed disagreed with mandatory celibacy, citing it as a primary reason for their desire to leave the priesthood.
Judaism
The Jewish sect, Lev Tahor
S2J News reported in December:
Guatemalan authorities rescued over 160 children from the Jewish sect Lev Tahor amid serious allegations of abuse and human trafficking. following complaints of widespread child abuse, including rape, forced marriage, and trafficking, according to prosecutors. Lev Tahor, meaning “Pure Heart” in Hebrew, was founded in Israel in 1988 and follows an interpretation of Jewish law. During the operation, at least 160 minors were taken into protective custody. The large-scale operation in the Santa Rosa region involved approximately 480 personnel, including police officers, soldiers, prosecutors, and psychologists. The raid followed an alert from four non-Guatemalan children who escaped the sect in November, bringing to light the abuses they had endured. The group has faced international scrutiny for allegations including child marriage, sexual abuse, kidnapping, and physical violence. Between 2014 and 2017, the sect relocated to Mexico and Guatemala after increasing legal pressures in other countries. Prosecutors in Guatemala allege that children in the sect were systematically abused, with many subjected to forced marriages under the guise of religious doctrine. For now, the rescued children remain under government protection as investigations proceed into the group’s activities and potential human rights violations.
Lev Tahor subscribes to a particular interpretation of the Halakha (Jewish laws). The men spend most of their days in prayer and studying specific Torah portions.
Shlomo Helbrans founded and led the Lev Tahor sect in 1988. Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans died in 2017. He was convicted of kidnapping children a decade ago and was at the helm of the group during this time. Notably, Mr. Uria Goldman, one of its prominent leaders, claims to have had prior involvement with Israeli military intelligence. Lev Tahor faced legal action in Canada in 2014, however, despite the proceedings in Ontario, the group was not convicted.
Evidently, we see that the sheer scale of sexual abuse and torture endured by countless children over three decades, at the hands of these religious Jewish men, is staggering and incalculable.
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The resurfacing of the “Muslim-Pakistani grooming gang” issue in the U.K., some fifteen years later, confirm the following reality: this, was never a matter of religion or race. Underlying factors allowed these heinous acts to occur. In addition, the fact that some Asian girls were also victims but likely remained silent out of fear of ostracism within their communities must be considered.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of victims in these specific cases, in specific areas of the U.K., were white girls from a working-class background. By contrast, to their Caucasian counterparts, the majority of Muslim girls—irrespective of social class—are raised within a framework of robust familial protection, encompassing a culture of chaperoning, stringent curfews, and disciplinary measures if these are not adhered to. These protective structures, while not offering justification for such abhorrent crimes, may have inadvertently rendered Muslim girls less accessible targets for perpetrators. This observation does not in any way condone or excuse the vile abuse inflicted upon young, vulnerable, white children who must be safeguarded. However, it underscores how certain conditions can facilitate such exploitation. We must engage in a serious discussion on the need to restore family values within certain communities, in order to ensure the protection of all children, irrespective of race, religion or background. Sexual abusers of children, regardless of their race or religion, should be subject to more stringent consequences and punishments. We must confront the reality that the punishment for such crimes in the UK is woefully inadequate.
